Brazil's death toll from Covid-19 has surpassed 130,000, amid cautious optimism over signs the virus is finally slowing in the hard-hit South American country.

With the second highest death toll in the pandemic after the United States, Brazil has been devastated by the new coronavirus, which has now claimed 130,396 lives in the country, according to the health ministry.

Brazil, home to 212 million people, has registered nearly 4.3 million infections, behind only the US and India, according to AFP.

After a seemingly endless plateau in which the number of daily deaths was regularly over 1,000 from June to August, Brazil's curve appears to be descending at last. The average number of deaths per day for the past week was 696.