In this file photo taken on May 30, 2020 gravediggers wearing protective clothing carry the coffin of a victim of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 for its burial at the Recanto da Paz Municipal Cemetery in the city of Breves, southwest of Marajo Island, an island at the mouth of the Amazon River in the Brazilian state of Para,Brazil. Tarso SARRAF / AFP

Latin America and the Caribbean surpassed Europe on Friday to become the region with the most COVID-19 deaths, according to an AFP count based on official data.

The world’s worst-hit region has recorded 213,120 fatal cases, 460 more than Europe, according to the tally registered at 1700 GMT.

Over the last week, 44 percent of global deaths from COVID-19 — 18,300 out of 41,500 — happened in the region.

Latin America is also the region with the largest number of infections in the world with 5.3 million.

More than half, some 2.9 million, are in Brazil, which has also recorded 98,500 deaths among its 212 million people.

Only the United States has been worse hit.

The second worst-affected country in Latin America, Mexico, passed 50,000 deaths on Thursday and has registered more than 460,000 cases, according to official figures.

AFP