SAO PAULO -- Brazil on Friday reported 108,732 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 19,632,443.

With 64,056 cases added due to under-reporting from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the figure marks the second-highest number of new daily cases since the onset of the outbreak.

According to the Ministry of Health, in the same 24 hours, 1,324 more people died of COVID-19, pushing the pandemic death toll to 548,340.

The pandemic in Brazil has been waning since the last week of June, with hospitals recovering from the flood of patients seen in March, April and part of June, the state-funded medical research center Fiocruz said.

In Sao Paulo, the occupancy rate of intensive care units (ICU) has dropped from 92 percent in June to 58.3 percent, the lowest level in 2021.

The country has fully vaccinated 36,533,170 people, or 17.25 percent of the population.