Covid-19: Brazil reports 36,315 new cases and 979 Covid deaths (August 19)

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has had 36,315 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 979 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The South American country has now registered 20,494,212 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 572,641.

According to Statista, the leading German company specializing in market and consumer data, Brazil ranks fifth in Latin America for deaths per million in the last seven days. It is better positioned than Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and Argentina. Worldwide, it ranks 18th.

As vaccination advances, the rolling 7-day average of COVID deaths has fallen to less that one third of the toll of almost 3,000 a day at the peak of the pandemic in April.

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