Brasilia, Dec 2 (TIWN) Brazil registered 587 new coronavirus fatalities in the last 24 hours, which increased the country's overall death toll to 172,561, the Health Ministry said.

Besides the new deaths on Saturday, the country also reported 51,922 new cases taking the nationwide tally to 6,290,272, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying.  Brazil currently accounts for the third largest Covid-19 caseload in the world, after the US and India, and the second highest death toll from the disease, after the US.  Earlier this month, an increase in hospitalizations was observed in at least nine states, including Sao Paulo, the most affected state in the country, which has registered 42,048 deaths from the disease so far.  Eduardo Leite, governor of the state of Rio Grande do Sul bordering Uruguay and Argentina, said on Friday that the region is experiencing "the worst moment of the pandemic" and a "second wave," with the lowest number of available hospital beds since May.