South America

Peru hits 5,000 coronavirus deaths

LIMA, Peru (AFP) — Peru hit 5,000 coronavirus deaths Thursday, according to the country’s health ministry, as hospitals faced a lack of oxygen for seriously ill patients. Peru has recorded more than 183,000 cases of COVID-19, making it the second hardest-hit country in Latin America after Brazil. Officials recorded more than 4,200 new cases and 137 deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing Peru’s total number of fatalities to 5,031, the health ministry said. The […]

Brazil reports a record 1,349 virus deaths in 24 hours

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil reported a record 1,349 coronavirus deaths in a 24-hour period Wednesday, the health ministry said, as the pandemic continued to take a grim toll on Latin America’s hardest-hit country. The figure brought the total death toll from the new coronavirus in Brazil to 32,548, with 584,016 confirmed infections — the second-highest caseload worldwide, after the United States. Brazil’s death toll, which has doubled in 17 days, is currently […]

Brazil to test vaccine as Europe emerges from lockdown

by Joshua Howat Berger with AFP bureaus RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Researchers in hard-hit Brazil on Wednesday said they would begin testing a coronavirus vaccine developed in Britain, while across the Atlantic European nations began reopening borders in a bid to emerge from months of devastation caused by the disease. Authorities in Brazil — the latest frontline of the pandemic, with deaths and infections on the rise — imposed fresh restrictions in the […]

Brazil tops 30,000 coronavirus deaths: official

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil surpassed 30,000 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak on Tuesday as the disease continued to rip through South America’s worst-hit country. Figures released by the health ministry showed a new record 1,262 deaths in the previous 24 hours, as well as 28,936 new infections. The figures come as some Brazilian states began to emerge from weeks of economically-stifling quarantine measures despite warnings from the WHO and epidemiologists. The overall […]

Panama protest over lifting of quarantine

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AFP ) — Trade unions took to the streets of Panama City on Tuesday in protest at the government’s decision to reopen the country’s economy, claiming it will lead to a spike in infections and deaths from the coronavirus. “We all know that the number is going to skyrocket, both in terms of infections and deaths,” said Saul Mendez, secretary general of the country’s largest union Suntracs. “It’s like throwing everything the […]

Brazil COVID-19 death toll hits 27,878, surpassing hard-hit Spain

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil on Friday reached 27,878 coronavirus deaths, official figures showed, surpassing the toll of hard-hit Spain and making it the country with the fifth-highest number of fatalities. The epicenter of the South American coronavirus outbreak, Brazil saw 1,124 deaths in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said. It also had a record number of new cases — 26,928 in one day — bringing the total number of infections to […]

Brazil tops 25,000 virus deaths

by Jorge SVARTZMAN RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s death toll from the new coronavirus surpassed 25,000 on Wednesday, as the country emerged as the latest epicenter in the global pandemic. The health ministry said it had confirmed 1,086 new deaths in the past 24 hours. It was the fifth time the number exceeded 1,000 since the crisis accelerated in Brazil a week ago. That pushed the nationwide death toll to 25,598, the sixth-highest […]

Brazil leads daily virus deaths for fifth straight day

RIO DE  JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil reported the highest daily COVID-19 death toll in the world Tuesday with 1,039 people killed, the fifth straight day the country has topped the list. Latin America’s largest country, which has emerged as a new epicenter in the coronavirus pandemic, has seen its daily death toll surge past that of the United States, the hardest-hit country so far. The US recorded a death toll of 657 in the […]

Brazil president rocked by release of expletive-laced video

by Valeria PACHECO Agence France Presse Brazilians got a shocking look Friday at an expletive-laced meeting between President Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet when a Supreme Court judge released a video at the center of an investigation targeting the far-right leader. The April 22 cabinet meeting is under scrutiny by prosecutors probing allegations by former justice minister Sergio Moro that Bolsonaro tried to interfere in federal police investigations. But it could prove just as damaging […]

South America ‘a new epicentre’ of COVID-19: WHO

  GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — South America has become “a new epicentre” of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said Friday, following a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections. “In a sense, South America has become a new epicentre for the disease. We have seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases,” WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan told a virtual news conference. “Clearly there is a concern across many of […]

Brazil surges to second in coronavirus cases worldwide

  BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil overtook Russia Friday as the country with the second-highest number of coronavirus infections worldwide behind the United States, as the Americas emerged as a new epicenter of the pandemic. The South American country has now registered 330,890 infections and 21,048 deaths from the new coronavirus, though experts say under-testing means the real figures may be 15 times higher or more. Brazil’s death toll rose by 1,001 in 24 hours, […]

Brazil passes 20,000 virus deaths after record 24-hour toll

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The coronavirus death toll in Brazil surpassed 20,000 on Thursday, after a record number of fatalities in a 24-hour period, the health ministry said. The country is the epicenter of the outbreak in Latin America, and its highest one-day toll of 1,188 pushed the overall death tally to 20,047. Brazil has now recorded more than 310,000 cases, with experts saying a lack of testing means the real figures are […]