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RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's COVID-19 death toll surpassed 146,000 after 365 more patients died of the disease in the last 24 hours, raising the total number to 146,352, the Health Ministry said Sunday.

Meanwhile, 8,456 new infections were reported in the past day, taking the nationwide count to 4,915,289, it said.

According to the ministry, Sao Paulo, whose total infections topped 1 million on Saturday, is the worst-hit state in Brazil, registering 1,003,902 cases and 36,178 deaths. It is followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 271,701 cases and 18,769 deaths.

The South American country now ranks the second in the world in terms of deaths from COVID-19, behind the United States, and third in terms of total caseload, after the United States and India, according to the latest tally by Johns Hopkins University.