Health workers celebrate the closure of a temporary hospital at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sept. 26, 2020. The hospital is to be officially closed on Sept. 30. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Xinhua)

 
The Brazilian Ministry of Health reported Friday 708 new deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's death toll to 145,388.

The ministry stated that Brazil is in the second place in the world in terms of COVID-19 deaths, after the United States.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, 33,431 new cases were registered, leading to a total of 4,880,523 infections nationwide.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, has been most heavily affected by the pandemic, with 997,333 cases and 35,956 deaths.

The city of Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America, will resume higher education classes next week with restrictions, after having seen a decrease in the number of deaths and cases over the last 10 weeks.

Rio de Janeiro is the second most affected state in the country, with 18,665 deaths, followed by Ceara, with 9,047 deaths.