Latin America hits 10 million cases of COVID-19

Brasilia, October 10 (RHC)-- Confirmed coronavirus cases In Latin America and the Caribbean reached 10 million on Saturday.  With more than 360,000 deaths, the region is the worst hit in terms of deaths.

More than half the recorded cases in the region have been registered in Brazil, which officially has 5,055,888 cases and 149,639 deaths.  It is followed by Colombia with 894,300 cases and 27,495 deaths; Argentina with 871,455 cases and 23,225 deaths; and Peru with 843,355 cases and 33,158 deaths.

Mexico, although it has fewer cases at 809,751, has suffered a high number of deaths -- the fourth highest in the world -- with the toll currently at 83,507.  Many countries are testing only symptomatic patients or the most serious cases.

The pandemic is affecting millions of middle-class Latin Americans as they are being dragged into poverty by the outbreak, which has hit the region’s labor market harder than elsewhere in the world. Poverty is set to surge back to 2005 levels in the region.