Brazil registers over 8.1mn Covid-19 cases, 203,100 deaths

Brasilia, Jan 11 (IANS) Brazil's overall coronavirus caseload and death toll have increased to 8,105,790 and 203,100, after the country reported 29,792 new infections and 469 fatalities in the past 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

With the new tallies, Brazil's Covid-19 caseload is the third highest in the world after the US and India, while the country's death toll is the second largest after the US, Xinhua news ageny reported.

Sao Paulo is the hardest-hit state with 48,351 deaths and 1,546,132 cases.

The state of Amazonas is currently facing an emergency as surging cases threaten to overwhelm its hospital system, after 1,580 hospitalisations were registered from January 1-9.

The Governor of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, has announced the reopening of a field hospital.

The Health Ministry said in a Sunday statement that it received a notification from Japan about the detection of a new variant of the coronavirus in four travellers who had visited Amazonas before returning to Tokyo on January 2.

The Ministry said it has asked the Japanese government for details about the four Japanese visitors and their itinerary to identify potential contacts in Brazil.