RIO DE JANEIRO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has registered 1,424 more COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 544,180, the health ministry said Tuesday.

A pedestrian wearing face protection gears and gloves walks on a street amid COVID-19 outbreak in Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 21, 2021. (Photos: Xinhua)

As many as 27,592 new cases were detected, taking the total caseload to 19,419,437, the ministry said.

Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, after the United States and India.

The South American country, which is experiencing a new wave of infections with hospitals overwhelmed by patients, has a mortality rate of about 259 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, said the ministry.

Some 124.3 million people in Brazil have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and over 34.3 million people have been fully vaccinated. Enditem

A pedestrian wearing face protection gears walks on a street amid COVID-19 outbreak in Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 21, 2021.