Brazil surpasses 1.5 million coronavirus cases

Brazil recorded 42,223 additional coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Friday, bringing the total tally to 1,539,081, the second-worst outbreak in the world behind the United States.

Iran PressAmerica: The number of coronavirus deaths rose by 1,290 to 63,174, according to the Ministry.

As the number of dead from coronavirus shot up in Brazil, the popularity of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has remained unchanged, according to AFP.

For his supporters, the President has done nothing wrong despite more than 63,000 deaths and 1.5 million infections, the report added.

Bolsonaro originally dismissed the coronavirus as a "little flu" and his opposition to lockdowns and flouting of measures aimed at stifling the spread have provoked a hail of criticism from some.

The global death toll is 529,127 with 11,191,681 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization.

COVID-19 was first detected in China's Wuhan in late December and has since spread across the world.

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