Brazil has reported 16,409 cases of novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 514,849.

Brazil is second only to the United States in its number of coronavirus cases.

Dr. Carissa Etienne, the director of the Pan American Health Organization, said earlier this week that the Americas have “become the epicenter of the Covid pandemic.”

Brazil also recorded 480 new coronavirus-related fatalities over the past 24 hours, according to its health ministry, raising the overall death toll to 29,314.

Brazil has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus deaths globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.