Brazil has 98,832 COVID cases, 2,495 deaths in 24 hours – ministry

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil has had 98,832 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 2,495 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Friday.

The South American country has now registered 17,801,462 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 498,499, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, Editing by Franklin Paul)