Prognosis

Lockdown or Not, Cases Soar From Mexico to Argentina

  • Mexico Covid-19 deaths now equal 10% of all infections
  • Brazil cases top 2 million after doubling in past month

Government health workers perform a rapid Covid-19 test on Chief Leno of the Kunaruara tribe at his village in western Para state, Brazil on July 10. 

Photographer: Tarso Sarraf/AFP via Getty Images
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Brazilian coronavirus cases topped 2 million, and Mexico overtook Chile to become one of Latin America’s biggest hot spots.

Mexico now has the seventh-highest number of Covid-19 cases in the world, reporting a total of 324,041, though health experts say infections there are probably many times greater than the official tally shows. Backing that up is a death toll that stands at 37,574, or 10% of all confirmed cases. Brazil, Latin America’s other economic powerhouse, has reported roughly 77,000 fatalities and cases that have doubled in the past month.