SAO PAULO, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has reported a total of 11,483,370 COVID-19 cases, with 278,229 deaths, the health ministry said on Sunday.

It also reported a total of 43,812 new COVID-19 cases with 1,127 deaths in the past 24 hours, it said.

Sao Paulo, the country's most affected state by the pandemic, registered more than 88 percent occupancy in hospital intensive care units by COVID-19 patients, while a dozen medical centers were fully occupied.

The new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated over the past months, with surging deaths between the ages of 20 and 50.

Health authorities attributed the new wave of infections to the P.1 strain that emerged in Brazil's northern state of Amazonas in November last year, and the movement of people during the summer vacation.