SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, registered a new daily record of 1,193 deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday and extended restrictions imposed earlier this month through April 11, state authorities said on Friday.
Tougher measures taken on March 15 to slow the snowballing pandemic had been expected to last two weeks.
The death toll includes cases earlier this week that had been unreported due to a change in personal data required by the Health Ministry.
The previous high for daily deaths in Sao Paulo was 1,021 on Monday.
Brazil has become the latest epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, with overwhelmed hospitals and a shortage of oxygen and drugs in many cities.
Brazil, with a population of 211 million, has recorded roughly 12.3 million cases of COVID-19 and 303,462 deaths since the pandemic began.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes; writing by Carolina Mandl; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang)
