In the case of infections, Brazil ranks third in the world after the U.S. and India​

Brasilia, January 22 (RHC)-- Brazil continues to rank as the second nation in the world with the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19, with more than 622,000 deaths, behind the United States, which has more than 860,000 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Sao Paulo is the Brazilian state with the most deaths registered, as of Friday, with 156,310; it is followed by Minas Gerais with more than 56,918, and then Paraná with 40,965.

Last Friday, the South American nation registered 358 deaths due to COVID-19, the highest figure since last November, according to data from the National Council of Health Secretaries of Brazil (Conass).

In addition, Brazil has a case fatality rate of 2.6 percent and, in the last week, the average number of deaths has been around 200 per day.   The Omicron variant has also caused an accelerated increase in infections, according to a survey conducted by the Corona-Ômica.BR Network, linked to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).

The study indicates that, with the new variant, positive cases in Brazil went from 5.3 percent in December to almost 31 percent in January; while, in less than two months, Ómicron went from representing 3.45 percent to about 97 percent.

With regard to vaccination, nearly 70 percent of the country's population has completed its vaccination schedule, and almost 19 percent has received a booster dose.

Johns Hopkins University confirmed Brazil as the second country most affected by Covid-19 deaths, after the U.S., while it ranks third in the number of infections, after the United States and India.