RIO DE JANEIRO, May 19. /TASS/. Brazil has officially reached third place in the world in total confirmed coronavirus infections, passing the United Kingdom. The national Health Ministry’s updated data shows the number of COVID-19 cases rose by 13,140 to reach 254,220 compared to the UK’s 247,706 (Johns Hopkins University says).

At the same time, 674 more people died from coronavirus-related causes to bring the total to 16,792. Meanwhile, 100,459 patients recovered. Causes behind 2,277 more deaths that potentially could also be attributed to COVID-19 are being clarified now.

The state of Sao Paulo is the epicenter of the outbreak in the country as well as its capital of Sao Paulo where more than 21 million people live (agglomeration). The region has more than 32,000 infections and over 2,600 fatalities due to coronavirus. Sao Paulo is followed by the state of Rio de Janeiro (more than 11,000 cases and 1,000 deaths). A lot of other states across the country also report grim figures.

Brazil remains the hardest-hit Latin American state in terms of coronavirus cases and deaths. The first coronavirus case in Brazil was confirmed on February 26 in Sao Paulo, the next day after the annual carnival was over. On May 12, the health ministry reported 39 positive coronavirus tests taken back in January after they sought medical help with coronavirus-like symptoms. The ministry is reviewing this data.

The epidemic already resulted in two health minister resignations in Brazil due to differences of opinions and other disagreements with the head of state, Jair Bolsonaro. The health ministry earlier forecast that the situation in the country will have stabilized by July, while the rates of infections will begin to slow down in August to start subsiding in September.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 4,815,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 316,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,863,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.