BUENOS AIRES/ANKARA

The novel coronavirus claimed 905 more lives in Brazil and 695 others in Mexico in the last 24 hours, health authorities said on Sunday. 

The second-hardest hit by the virus worldwide, Brazil's death toll from COVID-19 climbed to 100,477, while the tally of cases surged to over 3.01 million, including 49,970 infected in the past day, according to the Health Ministry.

The number of recoveries in the country has neared 2.09 million.

With a population of over 211 million, Brazil is seen as the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Latin America.

Mexico

The death toll in Mexico hit 52,006 with 695 additions over the past day, according to the Health Ministry.

The total count of cases rose to 475,902, as 6,495 more people tested positive for COVID-19. A total of 318,638 people have recovered from the disease thus far.

The first coronavirus case in Mexico was recorded on Feb. 28 and the first fatality on March 19.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 726,780 lives in 188 countries and regions since it originated in China last December. The US, Brazil, India, and Russia are currently the worst-hit countries in the world.

Over 19.6 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 11.9 million, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Fahri Aksut