Brazil leads surge as global Covid-19 cases near 7 million

The number of global cases of coronavirus disease Covid-19 is fast approaching the seven million mark, and the surge is now led by Brazil.

Though about 30 per cent of those cases, or two million infections, are in the United States, Latin America now accounts for roughly 16 per cent of all cases. The total count of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Brazil - a Latin American country - has shot past 6,72,000, more than anywhere outside the United States.

Late on Saturday, Brazil reported 27,075 new confirmed infections and 904 related deaths since its Friday update.

Brazil reported more new cases and deaths from Covid-19 than any other country on four consecutive days this week.

Fatalities in the Latin American country are rising rapidly and it may overtake the United Kingdom to have the second-largest number of deaths in the world.

Globally, the death toll from the coronavirus disease is approaching 4,00,000. The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 in just five months is now equal to the number of people who die annually from malaria, one of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases.

The first Covid-19 death was reported on January 10 in Wuhan, China, but it was early April before the death toll passed 1,00,000. It took 23 days to go from 3,00,000 to 4,00,000 deaths.

Brazil, with about 210 million people, is the globe’s seventh most populous nation.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s health ministry removed the data from a website that had documented the Covid-19 pandemic over time and by state and municipality. The ministry also stopped giving a total count of confirmed cases.

President Jair Bolsonaro defended the move. “The cumulative data ... does not reflect the moment the country is in,” he said on Twitter, citing a note from the ministry. “Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses.”