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 totaled 2,012,151, while deaths numbered 76,688.
Brazil, the largest country in Latin America, is home to around 210 million people – roughly two-thirds the size of the U.S. population.
Reuters