RIO DE JANEIRO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil on Thursday registered more than 1,600 COVID-19 deaths for the third day in a row, following a record daily count of 1,910 deaths on Wednesday.
In the previous 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said, 75,102 new cases were reported, the second highest since the start of the pandemic, after the 87,743 new cases detected on Jan. 7.
Brazil has thus reported a total of 10,793,732 cases so far with 260,970 deaths. Currently, Brazil has an average of 124 deaths and 5,136 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Brazil has the world's second highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third largest caseload, after the United States and India.
Also on Thursday, 14 of Brazil's 27 state governors signed a letter to President Jair Bolsonaro, requesting greater efforts from the federal government to acquire vaccines.
The governors warned they were "on the brink" of a disaster, saying mass vaccination "is the most recommended alternative and, probably, the only alternative capable of stopping the pandemic."
Brazil is applying for the CoronaVac vaccine manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, and the vaccine developed by Britain's AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Enditem
