Patients are seen at the Gilberto Novaes Field Hospital, in Manaus, Brazil, on May 28, 2020.Fotoarena/The Associated Press
Brazil reported a daily record of 26,417 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, according to the Health Ministry, bringing its total tally to 438,238, second only to the United States in confirmed cases.
Brazil’s death toll rose 1,156 from a day earlier to 26,754 confirmed fatalities from the COVID-19 respiratory disease, just shy of a record 1,188 deaths registered on May 21. The news comes as Brazil’s unemployment rate rose to its highest in just over a year owing to the coronavirus crisis, official figures showed on Thursday, as a record number of people left the workforce, pushing labour force participation to an all-time low.
Although the 12.6-per-cent unemployment rate was lower than economists had expected, other indicators such as the number of people leaving the work force and the underemployment rate point to a weaker labour market than the headline figure suggests. Central bank president Roberto Campos Neto said he expects the unemployment rate will eventually rise above 15 per cent, while economists at Citi reckon it will approach 18 per cent.