Brazil coronavirus cases reach 2 million, doubling in less than a month
- President Jair Bolsonaro, himself a patient, has seen popularity plunge over handling of pandemic
- Recent figures show nearly 40,000 new infections a day, as death toll passes 76,000
Brazil on Thursday passed the 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases mark, with little sign that the rate of increase is slowing as anger grows over President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the outbreak.
Just 27 days have passed since Brazil, which has the world’s second-largest outbreak after the United States, reached one million cases. In recent weeks, there have been nearly 40,000 confirmed new cases per day, according to government figures.
By contrast, 43 days passed between 1 million and 2 million confirmed cases in the United States, where the spread of Covid-19 eased briefly in May before accelerating again in June.
On Thursday, confirmed cases in Brazil totalled 2,012,151, while deaths numbered 76,688.
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Brazilian couple wear spacesuits to the beach as protection against coronavirus
Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, is home to around 210 million people – roughly two-thirds the size of the US population.