RIO DE JANEIRO, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Deaths from COVID-19 in Brazil surpassed 330,000 on Saturday after 1,987 new fatalities registered, bringing the country's death toll to 330,193, the Ministry of Health reported.
Besides, 43,515 new cases were registered, bringing the national count to 12,953,597.
Brazil is currently the global epicenter of COVID-19, ranking second in terms of deaths and cases worldwide, after the United States.
Sao Paulo, the most populated state in Brazil, has also been hardest hit by the virus with 2,520,204 cases and 76,750 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 657,139 cases and 37,629 deaths.
Brazil has been experiencing a new wave of COVID-19 since January, which has in recent weeks overwhelmed the healthcare systems in most of the 27 states of the country.
As of Friday, Brazil has vaccinated over 24 million people against COVID-19. Among them, 18.8 million, or 8.9 percent of the population, received the first dose and 5.2 million, or 2.49 percent, received both doses. Enditem
