Latin America records 5 million corona cases

Latin America broke through 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Monday according to a Reuters tally, underscoring the region’s position as the area of the world hardest hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Reuters says the more than 10,000 new cases Colombia’s health ministry reported on Monday pushed the region past the 5m mark, a day after the Andean nation reported a record 11,470 cases, reports The Guardian.

Mexico has also racked up record numbers of new confirmed infections in recent days, registering more than 9,000 daily cases for the first time on Saturday, a day after Mexico overtook Britain as the country with the third-highest number of deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday it reported 4,767 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 266 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 443,813 cases and 48,012 deaths.

In the region’s second hardest-hit country, Peru, daily cases have almost doubled from 3,300 to 6,300 since bus and air travel resumed a month ago, according to official figures.

Across Latin America, which has now topped over 200,000 deaths, countries are struggling to stall the spread of the virus, with infections picking up pace in many countries even as governments look to ease lockdowns and revive economic growth