FILE PHOTO: Workers of a funeral parlour, wearing protective clothing, are pictured after removing the body of Valnir Mendes da Silva, 62, from a sidewalk of Arara community, where he died after residents requested help from the emergency service as he was suffering from breathing problems, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 17, 2020. According to the residents, the body took about 30 hours to be removed. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil recorded a new daily record of 1,179 deaths from the new coronavirus on Tuesday, with a total of 17,971 total fatalities and 271,628 confirmed cases, the health ministry said.
Tuesday’s death toll was the first time Brazil has recorded more than 1,000 deaths in a day.
Reporting by Pedro Fonseca; Editing by Sandra Maler