Coronavirus pandemic sparks massive jail break in Brazil as over 800 prisoners escape from four prisons as the country reports its first virus-related death

More than 800 inmates broke out of four prisons in São Paulo, Brazil, after the Justice Department announced it was postponing a work program that allowed inmates to leave jails amid the coronavirus panic.

The massive jailbreak came as Brazil confirmed its first coronavirus-linked death Tuesday, a 62-year-old man who died at a private hospital in São Paulo. Health officials said he had suffered from diabetes, hypertension and prostatic hyperplasia.

Authorities have now recaptured around half of the 834 that fled on Monday.

Video footage showed the disturbing moment some of 577 men escaped from the Progression Center Penitentiary in the São Paulo municipality of Mongaguá. Officials reported that 172 were recaptured.

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