This archive report was first published on 20 June 2020.
On June 19, 2020, Brazil recorded a staggering 54,771 coronavirus cases within 24 hours, surpassing the one million mark.
The country's Health Ministry attributed the increase in cases to a lag in reporting from three states, including São Paulo, which had delayed in reporting the number of cases.
As of June 19, 2020, more than 48,954 people in Brazil had died of COVID-19, second only to the total in the United States, according to a New York Times database.
The country's response to the crisis had been widely criticized at home and abroad, with President Jair Bolsonaro dismissing the danger posed by the virus and sabotaging quarantine measures.
Despite the criticism, the Ministry of Health presented a new plan with guidelines on how local officials could safely resume activities in cities and states.
Globally, cases have passed 8.6 million, with more than 460,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker.
