Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Brazilian health authorities reported 1,473 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, marking the third consecutive day that the country saw a record high tally of fatalities.

With the total death toll rising overnight to 34,021, Brazil surpassed Italy to become the country with the third-highest number of deaths, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has recorded over 108,000 deaths from the virus, while Britain has reached almost 40,000, according to the university.

At least 614,941 people in Brazil have tested positive for the virus so far, health authorities said.

The number of undetected cases is likely to be higher, partly because Brazil's testing rates are low, with authorities largely only testing people in serious conditions.

The first coronavirus-related death was a 62-year-old man and was reported in the country 100 days ago.

President Jair Bolsonaro has called the coronavirus a minor flu and has resisted imposing any restrictions to contain it.

Meanwhile, the virus is killing at least one person per minute in Brazil, newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported.

On Thursday, the newspaper's website blacked out its background in response to virus deaths in the country.