ANKARA

Almost 600 more lives were lost to COVID-19 while nearly 20,000 new infections were confirmed in Brazil and Mexico in the last 24 hours, health authorities said late Sunday.

At least 363 more patients died in Brazil, raising the death toll in the world’s third worst-hit country to 136,895.

The Health Ministry confirmed 16,389 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to over 4.54 million.

Over 3.85 million patients have recovered in Brazil, which has been the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in Latin America.

The financial hub of Sao Paolo, with a population of nearly 46 million, remains the country's hardest-hit region.

In Mexico, 3,542 more infections and 235 virus-related fatalities were registered.

The total COVID-19 count now stands at 697,663, including 73,493 fatalities and 499,302 recoveries, according to the Health Ministry.

The pandemic has claimed more than 960,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since last December, according to the latest figures by US' Johns Hopkins University.

Over 31 million infections have been reported worldwide, with close to 21.25 million recoveries.

* Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur