Coronavirus fatalities climbing in Brazil, Mexico

By Fuat Kabakci

ANKARA (AA) - As the novel coronavirus continues to ravage Latin America, the death toll in Brazil topped 34,000 on Friday and passed 12,500 in Mexico.

In Brazil, 1,473 more fatalities over the past 24 hours raised the death toll to 34,021, according to the Health Ministry.

The total case count in the world’s second-worst hit country reached 614,941 as 30,925 more people tested positive for COVID-19.

In Mexico, 816 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 12,545.

A total of 4,442 more people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 105,680, the Health Ministry said.

The World Health Organization said this week that Latin America has become the "red zone" of coronavirus transmissions in the world and that solidarity and support are needed for these countries to overcome the pandemic.

Four of the 10 countries across the globe with the highest number of COVID-19 cases are located in Latin America, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said Monday.

Brazil, Peru, and Chile are suffering the highest daily increases, but numbers are also on the rise in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Haiti.

Worldwide, the pandemic has killed more than 391,200 people, with total infections reaching over 6.63 million, while more than 2.87 million people have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.