Brazil and Mexico report new COVID-19 deaths

As the novel coronavirus continues to ravage Latin America, the death toll in Brazil exceeded 31,000 and passed 10,600 in Mexico on Wednesday.

In Brazil, 1,262 more fatalities over the past 24 hours raised the death toll to 31,199, according to the Health Ministry.

The total case count in the world's second worst-hit country reached 555,383 as 28,936 more people tested positive for COVID-19.

In Mexico, 470 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 10,637.

A total of 3,891 more people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 97,326, the Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week that Latin America has become the "red zone" of coronavirus transmissions in the world and that solidarity and support are needed for these countries to overcome the pandemic.

Four of the 10 countries across the globe with the highest number of COVID-19 cases are located in Latin America, WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said Monday. Brazil, Peru, and Chile are suffering the highest daily increases, but numbers are also on the rise in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Haiti.

The pandemic has killed more than 380,000 people worldwide, with total infections reaching over 6.38 million, while more than 2.73 million people have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.