Sao Paulo, July 19 (IANS) Brazil has registered 921 new deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the nationwide count to 78,772, the country's Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, 28,532 newly confirmed cases were reported, taking its total to 2,074,860 nationwide, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry as saying on Saturday.

The southeast state of Sao Paulo, the country's most populous state, is the worst-hit, with 412,027 cases and 19,647 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro with 134,449 cases and 11,757 deaths.

Brazil is one of countries hardest hit by the pandemic, second only to the United States, both in terms of death toll and caseload.

--IANS tsb