Latin America and Caribbean pass 100,000 COVID-19 deaths

Brazil is the second-worst-affected country behind the United States, registering more than 50,000 deaths.

An aerial view of a burial site in Chile where the reported coronavirus death toll nearly doubled to more than 7,000 under a new tallying method that includes probable fatalities from COVID-19. MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP

JUNE 24, 2020

Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, more than half of them in Brazil, according to an AFP count based on official figures.

The pandemic is accelerating across the region, which now has a total of 2.1 million cases, with Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Chile the most-affected countries.

Brazil has the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world, after the United States, at more than 52,640 fatalities out of 1,145,906 confirmed cases.

A federal judge ordered Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has famously compared the coronavirus to a "little flu", to wear a face mask in public, after the far-right leader repeatedly flouted containment measures in place in Brasilia.

Mexico, also heavily hit by the virus, was struck Tuesday by a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake.

The quake hit as the country of 127 million people recorded its highest number of cases in a 24-hour period, with 6,288 new infections, according to the Ministry of Health.

Peru, meanwhile, exceeded 260,000 coronavirus cases, as it marked 100 days under mandatory lockdown and received a donation of 250 ventilators from the US.

Its neighbour to the north, Colombia, extended its quarantine until July 15, as its coronavirus cases continue to climb. The country has registered 2,404 deaths out of more than 73,500 cases.

The medical team of the Brazilian Armed Forces arrives at the Cruzeirinho village, Amazonas state, northern Brazil, to assist Indigenous population amid the COVID-19 pandemic. As the new coronavirus has ravaged Brazil, more than 7,000 Indigenous people have contracted the virus, and more than 300 have died. EVARISTO SA/AFP
People remain outside the Durango clinic in Mexico City during a earthquake on June 23, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A 7.1-magnitude quake was registered on Tuesday in the south of Mexico, sending thousands into the streets. CLAUDIO CRUZ/AFP

Three people have died and dozens have been infected in the Cantagallo community, where some 300 families of the Shipibo Conibo ethnic group live in Lima, Peru. The members of this Amazonic ethnic group settled in Lima and inhale medicinal plants to protect themselves from COVID-19. ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP

Workers of the Municipal Pantheon disinfect themselves after the burial of a suspected COVID-19 victim, in the municipality of Antiguo Cuscatlan, El Salvador. MARVIN RECINOS/AFP

Face masks hang from a rope to dry at a house in Bahia Honda, Artemisa province, Cuba, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Cuba controlled the pandemic, with one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, but a drop in income from tourism means the island now faces a food shortage, which it is trying to alleviate by increasing local production. YAMIL LAGE/AFP

A doctor carries an oxygen tank after disconnecting a man infected with COVID-19 from it at a field hospital set up in the yard of the School Hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Authorities at the main hospital in the Honduran capital were forced to set up four tents to assist coronavirus patients when it ran out of room. The country has so far registered 9,658 cases and 478 deaths from COVID-19. ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP

Dominican Luisa Liranzo, left, celebrates as a doctor tells her she can leave the Santo Socorro Hospital, where she was hospitalised for COVID-19, in Santo Domingo. ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP

Artists perform at the Botero Plaza, as part of an awareness campaign to stop the spread of COVID-19, in Medellin, Colombia. JOAQUIN SARMIENTO/AFP

A municipal worker sprays disinfectant past a street vendor at a market in Puno, Peru, near the border with Bolivia. COVID-19 infections appear lower among inhabitants living at high altitudes in the Andes mountains of Bolivia and Peru than their compatriots in the low lands. CARLOS MAMANI/AFP