Brazil coronavirus death toll nears 44,000 with almost 900,000 infected

Brazil's death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has risen to nearly 44,000, according to Health Ministry data, as the country continues easing restrictions despite the world's second-worst outbreak after the United States.

Brazil registered 627 new fatalities on Monday, down from an average of nearly 1000 over the past week. Reporting of fatalities typically slows over the weekend.

Although Brazil's official death toll from the pandemic has risen to 43,959, the true impact is likely far greater than the data show, health experts say, because of a lack of widespread testing in Latin America's largest country.

The Health Ministry registered about 20,000 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total to 888,271 infections.

Despite the severity of the outbreak, many Brazilian states and cities have begun easing social distancing rules in recent weeks amid growing public fatigue and repeated demands from President Jair Bolsonaro to get the economy going.

On Monday, Mike Ryan, the World Health Organisation's top emergencies expert, said Latin America remained a cause for concern.

"Brazil cannot be singled out in the Americas - there are many other countries in the Americas like Mexico, Chile and others who have had significant number of cases and continue to have an upswinging epidemic," he said.

With AAP