SAO PAULO, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's COVID-19 death toll totaled 195,411 after 462 more patients died in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said Friday.
Meanwhile, tests detected 24,605 new cases, bringing its total to 7,700,578.
While Brazil celebrated the New Year without festivities and fireworks amid the ravaging pandemic, local authorities were still struggling to prevent the public from flocking to beaches on New Year's Day.
In Riviera de Sao Lourenco, one of the most exclusive beaches in the southeast state of Sao Paulo, police even threw smoke bombs on the sand to keep beachgoers away.
Brazil has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, after the United States and India. Enditem
