RIO DE JANEIRO • Brazil's daily death toll from the coronavirus jumped to a record 1,179 on Tuesday as US President Donald Trump said he is considering imposing a ban on travel from the South American country.

The highest daily toll before Tuesday had been 881 deaths on May 12. The pandemic has killed at least 17,971 people in Brazil, according to the Health Ministry.

Brazil overtook Britain on Monday to become the country with the third-highest number of confirmed infections, behind the United States and Russia.

Confirmed cases in Brazil also jumped by a record 17,408 on Tuesday, for a total of 271,628 people who have tested positive for the virus.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Mr Trump, has been widely criticised for his handling of the outbreak, such as opposition to restrictions on movement he sees as too damaging to the economy.

Mr Bolsonaro said interim Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello was to issue new guidelines yesterday expanding the recommended use of the anti-malarial drug chloroquine to treat the coronavirus.

Health Minister Nelson Teich quit last Friday under pressure to sign the guidelines, making him the second trained doctor to leave the post in a month.

In an interview posted on the website Blog do Magno, Mr Bolsonaro said Mr Pazuello, an active-duty army general who had been Mr Teich's deputy, would sign the new chloroquine guidelines and keep the top job for now. Mr Bolsonaro added that his mother is 93 years old, and he keeps a box of chloroquine on hand should she need it.

Mr Trump, who announced on Monday he was taking chloroquine preventively, told reporters on Tuesday: "I don't want people coming over here and infecting our people. I don't want people over there sick either. We're helping Brazil with ventilators... Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it."

With the new guidelines, Brazil will allow for expanded use of chloroquine to include less serious cases and for patients in the early stages of infection.

Mr Bolsonaro rarely misses a chance to talk up the drug to the press and on his social media accounts, helping fuel a fierce debate within the ranks of Brazil's medical profession.

Several doctors who contracted the virus in Brazil have been encouraged to talk about their recovery, disclose if they took the drug and whether they would recommend it. Celebrity dermatologist Ligia Kogos said in an interview last month that she has prescribed it to her entire staff.

Clinical trials have failed to prove chloroquine's efficacy in combating Covid-19. French research found the drug did not reduce the likelihood that a Covid-19 patient would die. Other trials were halted when patients developed potentially fatal irregular heart rates.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG