Brazil has 2,594 new coronavirus cases, 123 COVID deaths in 24 hours -ministry

Brazil has had 2,594 new cases of the novel coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours, and 123 deaths from COVID-19, the health ministry said on Monday.

The South American country has now registered 22,019,870 cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 612,782, according to ministry data, in the world's second-deadliest outbreak outside the United States.

As vaccination advances, the rolling 14-day average of COVID-19 deaths has fallen to less that 230 a day, the lowest since April last year and compared to the toll of almost 3,000 a day at the peak of the pandemic in April this year.