SAO PAULO: Brazil has topped 2,000 daily deaths by COVID-19 for the first time, as the country's second wave of the coronavirus continues to grow amid a collapse of the health system in several mid-sized cities.
The Brazilian health ministry said 2,286 deaths were registered in the last 24 hours.
The previous record had been set on Tuesday with 1,954 deaths.
The grim figure put Brazil's total death toll at more than 270,000.
Earlier Wednesday, President Jair Bolsonaro, who has long downplayed the risks of the virus, wore a mask in an event at the presidential palace in capital Brasilia for the first time in months.
He also sanctioned a bill that makes the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines easier.
So far less than 5 per cent of Brazilians have been gotten their shots against the disease.