COVID-19: Death Toll in Latin America Surpasses 70,000

The COVID-19 pandemic advanced steadily Wednesday through Latin America, where the death toll passed the grim milestone of 70,000 deaths, with Brazil the most affected country.

Brazil accounts for almost 40,000 –or more than half– of Latin America's total deaths, registering 1,274 deaths in the last 24 hours, and numbers continue to rise.

Even as the virus continued to cut a swath through the country, the economic powerhouse city of Sao Paulo began reopening shops on Wednesday as part of a gradual resumption of activity.

Shopping malls were set to reopen in a slew of cities on Thursday, the day before Brazilians celebrate Valentine's Day.

Mexico, with nearly 15,000 COVID-19 deaths, and Peru, with almost 6,000 deaths from 208,000 cases, are also battling a deep surge.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Bolivia, with a relatively small toll of 487 coronavirus deaths, but with a high number of infections registered in recent weeks,  approved on Wednesday the date of September 6 for the country's virus-delayed general elections.

Given the increase in cases, Chile extended the quarantines that were already in force and added eight new zones to the measure starting this Friday in the country, which already totals 148,496 infections and 2,475 deaths, which places it in the third place among those sick in Latin America.

Ecuador, recorded 3,720 deaths from COVID-19 and 2,462 probable, in addition to 44,440 confirmed cases, while the relaxation process of the lockdown measures are applied.

For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic in Central and South America represents a "great concern" given that the region still does not seem to have reached the peak of infections, while health systems have already collapsed in a number of countries.