Latin America surpasses 250,000 coronavirus deaths: AFP tally

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(File photo) Aerial view of the Vila Formosa Cemetery, in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 6, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. – Brazil enters its sixth month of pandemic with almost 3,000,000 cases of COVID-19 and 100,000 deaths and without any perspective of ending the tragedy, which some see as the inevitable consequence of the lack of national leadership to face it. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP)

MONTEVIDO, Uruguay (AFP) — Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed 250,000 deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official national statistics.

The region recorded 6,463,245 infections and 250,969 deaths by 2200 GMT.

Brazil is the region’s worst-affected country with 3.5 million cases and more than 112,000 deaths. The South American giant is second only to the United States as the world’s worst-hit country.

Peru, where figures released Thursday showed a 30 percent fall in GDP in the second quarter, has registered more than 26,000 deaths.

Mexico had recorded 58,481 deaths from nearly 540,000 COVID-19 infections by late Wednesday. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced Thursday that at least 2,000 Mexican volunteers would take part in final-phase trials of a Russian vaccine against the virus.

© Agence France-Presse