RIO DE JANEIRO, July 23. /TASS/. The number of coronavirus cases in Brazil increased by 67,860 in the past 24 hours to reach 2,227,514, shows the national health ministry’s statistics updated Wednesday evening.

This is the highest daily increase since the epidemic hit the country. The previous record high of 54,771 was set on June 19. The record number of 16,777 new infections were registered in the state of Sao Paulo, the epicenter of Brazil’s outbreak. The state has been identifying 6,600 positive coronavirus tests on average in the last week.

According to the updated statistics, the number of fatalities from virus-related causes rose by 1,284 to hit 82,771 in total. Moreover, 1,532,138 people recovered from coronavirus in Brazil, while the country still has 612,605 active cases.