Latin America

Coronavirus deaths in Mexico pass 20,000

Coronavirus deaths in Mexico surpassed 20,000 on Friday after the health ministry reported 647 new fatalities and 5,030 new confirmed cases. Total cases now stand at 170,485, with 20,394 fatalities,…

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Brazil becomes second country to hit one million cases

Brazil has become the second country in the world to confirm more than one million cases of Covid-19, as the disease continues to spread. The health ministry also posted a…

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Mexico posts record number of new coronavirus infections

Mexico’s health ministry reported on Thursday a record 5,662 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 667 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 165,455 cases and 19,747…

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Honduras president hospitalized with pneumonia due to Covid-19

After President Juan Orlando Hernández announced late Tuesday that he and his wife had tested positive for the virus, he has now been hospitalised after doctors determined he had pneumonia.…

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Brazil coronavirus deaths climb to 46,510, cases near 1 million

Brazil recorded 1,269 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, bringing its official death toll from the novel coronavirus to 46,510, the most in the world outside the United States. The Health…

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Argentina’s president enters voluntary isolation amid coronavirus surge

Argentina’s president Alberto Fernández has gone into voluntary isolation amid growing concerns over a surge of coronavirus infections, including several cases among the country’s political elite. The decision to quarantine…

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Peru overtakes Italy in total cases of coronavirus

Peru topped 240,000 total cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, surpassing hard-hit Italy, government data showed, even as the pace of infections has begun to moderate in the South American nation.…

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President of Honduras says he is infected with coronavirus

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said late on Tuesday he has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, but did not immediately provide further details. "As president of the nation and a…

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Colombia cases top 50,000

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Colombia have risen to over 50,000, the country’s Health Ministry said on Sunday, while neighbouring Ecuador approached the same milestone. Colombia has reported 50,939 cases of…

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Photo Story: Sangay volcano in activity in Ecuador

A picture taken with a slow shutter speed shows a column of ashes and smoke and a flow of lava erupt from Sangay volcano at the Sangay National Park in…

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Chile replaces health minister as Covid-19 deaths spike

Chile President Sebastian Pinera on Saturday replaced Health Minister Jaime Manalich amid controversy over the country’s figures for deaths from the coronavirus outbreak. Pinera said Manalich had spared “no effort”…

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Brazil death toll over took Britain’s to become second highest in the world

Brazil's COVID-19 death toll overtook Britain's on Friday to become the second highest in the world with 41,828 dead, but the World Health Organization said the nation's health system was…

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U.S. looking into reports of Haftar’s oil dealings with Venezuela

The United States is investigating and trying to get to the bottom of reports that Libya's eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar's plane was in the Venezuelan capital Caracas last week, a…

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Brazil confirms 30,000 cases

Brazil reported a total of 802,828 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Thursday, with 30,412 new infections in the last 24 hours in the world’s second worst outbreak after the United…

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Latin America hits 70,000 pandemic deaths, daily record in Mexico

Latin America’s coronavirus crisis reached a grim new milestone on Wednesday with total deaths exceeding 70,000, according to a Reuters count, as Mexico hit a daily record for confirmed infections.…

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Argentina confirms more than 1,000 new cases in one day

Argentina confirmed more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday as the rate of new infections continued to rise just days after it extended lockdown measures in the capital…

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Huge vessel logjam in Brazil amid sugar shipping rush

More than 70 ships are lined up at Brazil's port of Santos to load sugar for export in a queue that may take a month to clear after buyers worldwide…

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Chile coronavirus death toll jumps sharply

Chile revised its death toll linked to the novel coronavirus outbreak sharply higher on Sunday, adding fatalities from databases that previously had not been included. Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said…

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Brazil reports total of 37,312 coronavirus deaths

Brazil registered 37,312 total coronavirus deaths while overall cases in the country reached 685,427, according to data from the health ministry on Sunday, amid criticism of the government's handling of…

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Bolsonaro threatens WHO exit as COVID-19 kills ‘a Brazilian per minute’

President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization after the U.N. agency warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the…

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Brazil’s official coronavirus death toll passes Italy

Brazil's total COVID-19 death toll blew past that of Italy on Thursday, as the Health Ministry reported 1,437 deaths in the last 24 hours and 30,925 additional coronavirus cases. The…

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Mexico overtakes US coronavirus daily deaths, sets records

Mexico overtook the United States in daily reported deaths from the novel coronavirus for the first time on Wednesday, with the health ministry registering a record 1,092 fatalities it attributed…

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U.S. sanctions four shipping firms for transporting Venezuelan oil

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday said it had sanctioned four shipping firms for transporting Venezuelan oil, the latest escalation in Washington's effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro by…

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Strong 6.8 earthquake in Northern Chile

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 struck northern Chile, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said on Wednesday. The quake struck at a depth of 145 kilometres (90.1 miles), GFZ said.…

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More than 31,000 people have died in Brazil from the coronavirus

Brazil registered a single-day highest total of 1,262 fatalities related to the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 31,199, according to its health…

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Bolsonaro tries to rein in backers as protests shake Brazil

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro told his supporters on Monday they should put off their protests against the country's Supreme Court next weekend after counter-demonstrations triggered violent clashes on Sunday. "Leave…

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Tropical storm Amanda batters El Salvador

Tropical storm Amanda made landfall in El Salvador on Sunday, dumping heavy rain and unleashing floods that left at least 10 people dead. ''We are facing a critical situation,'' El…

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Photo Story: Violent protests in Brazil

A person is hit with a shield by police during Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protests in Sao Pablo, Brazil, 31 May 2020. Groups of supporters and detractors of the Brazilian…

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Brazil passes 500,000 Covid-19 cases

Brazil has reported 16,409 new coronavirus cases taking the total of infected cases to 514,849. It keeps the country in second place in terms of infections, behind the US on…

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Photo story: Drive-thru weddings in Brazil to avoid COVID-19

Maria Carolina Velludo (C) and Carlos Henrique de Souza (R), listen to the judge officiating their marriage, while they sit in the back of a car, amid the COVID-19 pandemic,…

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Peru reports more than 7,000 new cases

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Peru rose to 155,671 on Saturday, a jump of 7,386 from the previous day, according to the country's health ministry. The country reported…

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Earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes Peru

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck 28 km (17 miles) west of Lampa in Peru, at a depth of 144 km (89 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.…

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Brazil records more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 cases in a single day

Brazil had another 1,086 coronavirus-related deaths over the previous 24 hours, the country's health ministry reported -- taking the national toll to 25,598. The ministry said 20,599 new cases were…

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WHO says Latin America has become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic

Latin America has become the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with infections and deaths set to substantially worsen in the coming weeks, the World Health Organization said . The…

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One million jobs could be lost in Mexico due to coronavirus

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the country stood up to a million jobs as non-essential industries and businesses remained shut. Dark clouds were already looming on the Central…

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Brazil surpasses U.S. daily virus death toll

On Monday the White House moved up a travel ban on foreigners who have been to Brazil over the past two weeks, just as Brazil's daily death toll from the…

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Brazilian tribes unhappy with missionaries in indigenous community

Indigenous organizations in Brazil protested on Friday against the inclusion in a bill on emergency assistance to tribes in the coronavirus pandemic of a paragraph authorizing Christian missionaries to remain…

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US to restrict travel from Brazil for non-citizens

The White House on Sunday said it was restricting travel from Brazil to the United States, two days after the South American nation became the world's No. 2 hotspot for…

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Brazil’s coronavirus fatalities surpasses the 22,000 mark

Brazil registered 965 new coronavirus deaths on Saturday, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,013, the Health Ministry said. The country now has 347,398 confirmed cases, according to the…

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Argentina hits 10,000 coronavirus cases

Argentina surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, after recording the highest single day increase since the start of the pandemic. There are 10,649 cases, up by 718…

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South America is now pandemic’s centre – WHO

South America has become a new centre of the pandemic, with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll,…

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Mexico posts record 2,973 coronavirus cases in single day

Mexican health authorities on Thursday reported 2,973 more coronavirus cases, a daily record for new infections, bringing the country’s total tally to 59,567 cases. Mexico also registered another 420 deaths,…

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Venezuela says Iranian tankers will get military escort

Venezuela on Wednesday said its navy and air force would escort Iranian tankers arriving with much needed fuel, after Tehran warned of "consequences" if the US stopped the ships from…

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Venezuela in bid to force Bank of England to hand over $1bn of gold

Venezuela's central bank has launched a legal claim in an effort to force the Bank of England to hand over $1.02bn of the country's gold it holds. A document submitted…

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Brazil suffers record daily Covid-19 death toll

Brazil's daily death toll from the new coronavirus jumped to a record 1,179 on Tuesday as President Jair Bolsonaro doubled down on chloroquine as a possible remedy and U.S. leader…

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Hospitals in Brazil, ‘near collapse’

The mayor of Brazil's largest city, São Paulo, has said its health system could collapse as demand grows for emergency beds to deal with coronavirus cases. Bruno Covas said the…

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Brazil’s outbreak now fourth largest in the world

Brazil’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose on Saturday past those of Spain and Italy, outbreak the fourth largest in the world. Brazil’s health ministry registered 14,919 new confirmed cases in the…

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Brazil’s LATAM airlines to lay off 1,400 employees

LATAM Airlines Group, the region's largest carrier, will lay off 1,400 employees, the company said on Friday, marking the first instance of a major Latin American airline laying off staff…

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Brazil Health minister resigns after less than a month in office

Brazil’s outgoing health minister Nelson Teich said in a press briefing on Friday that he had decided to resign from his position, becoming the second person to leave the top…

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Brazil and Mexico report record surge in coronavirus cases

Brazil and Mexico on Thursday reported a record one-day rise in new coronavirus cases, just as leaders of both countries intensified attempts to reopen their economies even as the spread…

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Coronavirus cases in Brazil continue to increase

Brazil's confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus passed Germany, as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fought states over his wish to reopen gyms and beauty parlors even as his country becomes…

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Indigenous people cutting off from their external communities to preserve their culture in wake of pandemic

Indigenous peoples across Latin America are cutting off their communities from the outside world, worried that the coronavirus could pose a grave threat to their culture by putting at risk…

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Colombian airline Avianca files for bankruptcy

Colombia's national airline, Avianca, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court. The carrier is the second-largest in Latin America, but its passenger operations have been grounded since March…

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Russian troops to help Venezuela search for members of failed coup

Russian soldiers are operating drones over Venezuela as part of a search operation for members of a paramilitary force that led a botched invasion this week, local media reported on…

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Argentina once more faces bankruptcy

Argentina's government is trying to negotiate a restructuring of debt with creditors as the country's finances dwindle and once more faces bankrupcy. Argentina hasn't made a bond interest payment since…

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Photo Story: The new normal of Colombian workers

A group of workers from the Wastewater Treatment Plant, PTAR Salitre, move on a bus with separate posts and their protective elements to prevent the spread of COVID-19, in Bogota,…

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Brazil hits record coronavirus deaths

Brazil, one of the world’s emerging coronavirus hot spots, registered a record number of cases and deaths on Wednesday, prompting the health minister to flag the possibility of strict lockdowns…

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