South America is "a new epicenter," said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday. "We see the number of cases increasing in many South American countries (...) but clearly the most affected at this stage is Brazil," said Michael Ryan, WHO emergency manager.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health again announced on Friday that more than 1,000 people had succumbed to Covid-19 in 24 hours. This is the third day out of four that this has happened.

The total number of deaths reached 21,048, which places Brazil in sixth position worldwide. But it sadly rose to second place in terms of cases with a total of 330,890 contaminations including 20,803 in the last 24 hours.

Peru extends containment until June 30 

Another country struggling to stem the coronavirus, Peru. The country deplores more than 3,100 deaths and more than 110,000 cases of contamination since March 6. President Martin Vizcarra extended the confinement on Friday until June 30. It has been in effect since March 16.

"Compulsory social isolation" will also continue until this date because of "serious circumstances affecting the life of the nation due to the Covid-19," he added.

With figures probably underestimated, the pandemic officially affected more than 5.1 million people worldwide. It has killed at least 335,538 people since its appearance in December in China, according to a report compiled by AFP. 

With AFP 

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