Brasilia, Mar 15 (IANS): Brazil's overall coronavirus caseload has increased to 11,483,370 after an additional 43,812 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

The country's death toll rose to 278,229 after 1,127 fatalities in same time, reports Xinhua news agency.

Brazil's caseload and death toll is the second highest in the world after the US.

Sao Paulo, the country's most affected state by the pandemic, registered more than 88 per cent occupancy in hospital intensive care units by Covid-19 patients, while a dozen medical centres were fully occupied.

The new wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated over the past months, with surging deaths between the ages of 20 and 50.

Health authorities attributed the new wave of infections to the P.1 strain that emerged in northern state of Amazonas in November last year, and the movement of people during the holiday season.