BUENOS AIRES, Argentina / ANKARA, Turkey 

Thousands of more coronavirus cases and hundreds of fatalities were reported in Brazil and Mexico on Friday.

The death toll in Brazil increased by 1,220 over the past 24 hours to reach 69,184, according to the Health Ministry.

A total of 42,619 more infections were confirmed across the Latin American country, pushing the overall count to over 1.75 million.

The number of recoveries in the country of over 211 million is now over 1.17 million.

Brazil, the world’s second worst-hit country in the pandemic, is regarded as the epicenter of the outbreak in Latin America.

President Jair Bolsonaro, who recently contracted COVID-19, is accused of underestimating the threat of the virus.

Over in Mexico, the death toll rose to 33,526 with 730 more fatalities over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry data said.

The number of virus cases increased by 7,280 to reach 282,283, while recoveries stand at 172,230.

Across the world, COVID-19 has claimed nearly 555,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since emerging in China last December.

Over 12.26 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the US, Brazil, India, and Russia currently the worst-hit countries, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than half of all patients worldwide – over 6.74 million – have recovered so far.

* Writing by Fahri Aksut