Latin America surpasses 5 million COVID-19 cases, Reuters tally shows

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

The more than 10,000 new cases Colombia's health ministry reported on Monday pushed the region past the 5 million mark, a day after the Andean nation reported a record 11,470 cases. 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.

The region, which has now topped over 200,000 deaths, is 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.

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