Brazil registers 112,286 cases of coronavirus, 251 COVID-19 deaths

Brazil reported 112,286 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 251 COVID-19 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Friday.

The country has now registered 22,927,203 cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago, while the official death toll has risen to 620,796, according to ministry data. Friday's number of new cases is the highest since June 23 last year in regular records and represents a huge leap from the same day of the week last year, when 63,292 cases were recorded.

Brazil has the third highest number of deaths from COVID-19, behind the United States and Russia, and the third most confirmed cases, after the United States and India. (Writing by Carolina Pulice; editing by Grant McCool)