RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil on Tuesday reported 2,966 new deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll to 411,588, according to its health ministry.

Meanwhile, 77,359 new COVID-19 cases were detected, bringing the accumulated caseload to 14,856,888.

Brazil now has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest outbreak, behind the United States and India.

According to the health ministry, Brazil now has a rate of 196 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and 7,070 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants.

Sao Paulo, the country's most populous state, is the hardest-hit, with 98,021 deaths and 2,941,980 infections, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 45,232 deaths and 753,732 cases.

According to a consortium of media outlets, Brazil had vaccinated 48.5 million people against COVID-19 as of Monday.

The country's first case was detected on Feb 26, 2020.