A woman wearing a protective face mask prays outside a church as priest Jorge Luiz de Oliveira delivers the Angelus prayer from the balcony of the Santuario Basilica de Sao Sebastiao, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

BRASILIA: Brazil, one of the world's emerging coronavirus hot spots, registered a record number of cases and deaths on Wednesday (May 6), prompting the health minister to flag the possibility of strict lockdowns in particularly hard-hit areas.