COVID-19 kills 2 lakh in Latin America, nearly half of them in Brazil

A volunteer disinfects an area inside Santa Marta Favela, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday. Pic/AFP

The COVID-19 death toll in Latin America has surpassed 2 lakh, with Brazil and Mexico together reporting 70 per cent of the casualties, reported Reuters. On Saturday, Mexico reported 784 more COVID-19 deaths, taking the total toll to 47,472. The novel coronavirus has infected as many as 4,34,193 people in the country.

The death toll in Brazil increased by 1,088 to 93,563 on Saturday, and cases jumped to 2,707,877 with over 45,300 new infections, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, the head of Mexico's efforts to fight the pandemic has sidestepped calls to resign after Mexico posted a record case increase and the country's death count rose to overtake the United Kingdom as the third-highest in the world.

Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said late Friday that "I express my respect" to the nine of Mexico's 32 state governors who called for his resignation, adding "I hope we can continue to work together."

On Saturday, Mexico reported yet another new daily high for confirmed cases - 9,556, which raised Mexico's total cases so far to almost 4,25,000. The country also posted 784 more confirmed deaths, raising its accumulated total to 47,472.

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