Brazil COVID-19 death toll exceeds 3K for second day in a row

A gravedigger wearing a protective suit looks at the first coffin (not pictured) arriving for the first night burial as spotlights illuminate the graves at Vila Formosa cemetery, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

BRASILIA — Brazil recorded 85,948 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours and 3,438 deaths from COVID-19, the Health Ministry said on Saturday, the second day in a row fatalities have exceeded 3,000.

Brazil has registered nearly 12.5 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 310,550, according to ministry data.