RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil surpassed half a million COVID-19 deaths after registering 2,301 more deaths from the fatal disease in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said Saturday.

With the national death toll reaching 500,800, Brazil has become the second country in the world to record more than half a million pandemic deaths, after the United States.

According to the ministry, a total of 82,288 new infections were detected during the past 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 17,883,750, the world's third largest following 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 238.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, said the ministry.

More than 86 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered nationwide, and over 24.1 million people have received two jabs, it added.