Brazil on Saturday crossed the grim threshold of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, the country’s health minister said, trailing only the United States in lives lost to the virus.

“500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic that affects our Brazil and the world,” Marcelo Queiroga tweeted, without giving the death toll from the past 24 hours.

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AFP reports that as of Friday, the Health Ministry had recorded 498,499 deaths, with a daily average of more than 2,000 in the last seven days.

According to a consortium of the country’s main media groups, the overall death toll rose to 500,022 Saturday afternoon. The government releases its toll after 2100 GMT.

COVID-19

Brazil, with a population of 212 million, became the second country after the United States to surpass 500,000 Covid-19 deaths.

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The South American country experienced a second wave of the pandemic this year, when it topped 4,000 deaths per day.

According to the latest weekly report from the Fiocruz medical research foundation, the country is in a “critical” situation with a high number of deaths and the possibility of things worsening in coming weeks as winter arrives in the southern hemisphere.