BRASILIA/BOGOTA, Sept 21 (NNN-Xinhua) — Brazil reported 363 more deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising its national total to 136,895 since the start of the pandemic.
Tests also detected 16,389 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4,544,629, according to the health ministry.
The newly-reported fatalities and infections were far below Brazil’s daily average due to administrative gaps in weekend reporting. For example, data from the northern states of Tocantins, Amapa and Roraima were not included.
The southeastern states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have registered the most deaths since the onset of the national outbreak, with 33,952 and 17,677 deaths reported, respectively.
In regard to the number of infections, Sao Paulo has the largest outbreak, with 935,300 confirmed cases, followed by northeastern Bahia, with 295,303 cases.
So far, Brazil has the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak.
In neighbouring COLOMBIA, the country reported 169 deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, taking its national death toll to 24,208, the Health Ministry said.
Meanwhile, 6,678 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the nationwide tally to 765,076, the ministry said.
A total of 633,199 patients have so far recovered, it added.
On Saturday, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced the reopening of international flights after five months of closure due to the pandemic.
According to the Ministry of Transportation, flights in this first phase of reactivation will be made to the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Guatemala. — NNN-XINHUA
