LATIN AMERICA surpassed Europe on Tuesday to become the region with the highest coronavirus death toll worldwide, according to a Reuters tally.

The region broke through 5 million confirmed cases Monday, a Reuters tally showed, underscoring that it is the area of the world hardest hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The region has now recorded more than 206,000 deaths, approximately 30 percent of the global total.

Brazil, the Latin American country most affected by the novel coronavirus, had recorded a total of 95,819 deaths as of Tuesday. Mexico, the second-most affected country in the region, has 48,869 deaths.

The spread of the pandemic has also accelerated in Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia.

North America is the region with the second highest number of cases, with 4.8 million infections, according to a Reuters tally, followed by Europe and Asia, which have around 3 million infections each.

More than 100 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean live in slums, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Many have jobs in the informal sector with little in the way of a social safety net and have continued to work throughout the pandemic.

“The pandemic has become an unprecedented economic and social crisis and, if urgent measures are not taken, it could transform into a food, humanitarian, and political crisis,” the report warned.

The number of cases increased after authorities relaxed lockdown measures in order to stimulate economic growth.

The virus has infected more than 18.4 million people worldwide. The global death toll is 698,000. 

(SD-Agencies)