SAO PAULO, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Brazil registered 868 more COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 541,266, the health ministry said Saturday.
As many as 34,339 new cases were detected, taking the total caseload to 19,342,448, the ministry said.
Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.
The South American country, which is experiencing a new wave of infections with hospitals overwhelmed by patients, has a mortality rate of about 257.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, said the ministry.
Some 120 million people in Brazil have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and over 33.2 million people have been fully vaccinated. Enditem
