Brazil has recorded over 80,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, according to the country’s health ministry figures on Tuesday.
The number of deaths in the country quadrupled in two months. Brazil passed the mark of 20,000 COVID-19 deaths on May 21.
Recently, the Latin American country of 212 million people has regularly registered more than 1,000 new deaths a day — though the figure for Monday was lower, at 632, bringing its overall death toll to 80,120.
The country has confirmed 2.1 million total infections.
Experts say under-testing means the real numbers are probably much higher.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who is infected himself, faces criticism for downplaying the virus and urging state governors to reopen their economies despite health officials’ recommendations.
The far-right leader is currently in quarantine, along with several infected members of his cabinet. But he previously defied state authorities’ stay-at-home measures, whose economic impact he argues could be more damaging than the virus itself.
Bolsonaro, who famously compared the virus to a “little flu,” regularly hit the streets with no face mask until he got infected, shaking hands and taking pictures with supporters at rallies.
