Brasilia, Dec 13 (IANS): Brazil's coronavirus death toll has increased to 181,123 after 686 more fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said.

According to the Ministry, at least 43,900 more people tested positive for the virus, raising the national count to 6,880,127, Xinhua news agency.

With the two new tallies, Brazil currently accounts has the world's second highest Covid-19 death toll, after the US, and the third largest caseload, next to the US and India.

Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous state, is the hardest-hit by the virus in the country, with 1,333,763 cases and 43,971 deaths.

It is followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 388,431 cases and 23,718 deaths, the Ministry said.

After seeing a decline in daily deaths and cases since September, the South American country started to experience an increase in both categories in November, threatening the fragile health system, with the hospitals once again almost fully occupied.