Colombia in the past week passed 300,000 cases and 10,000 fatalities. Argentina, which had early success slowing the spread of the virus, has seen a recent spike in infections. Five Latin American countries are now in the global top 10 for cases, according to a Reuters tally.

Brazil, the worst-hit country in the region and the second-worst worldwide, has over 2.73 million cases and more than 94,000 deaths.

The giant South American nation, which set a daily record for new cases last week, posted a lower total of 25,800 cases on Sunday, which looked likely to keep the wider region from breaching the 5 million mark until Monday.

Mexico logged over 9,000 new infections from the virus on Saturday and is now the country with the third most deaths worldwide.

Peru, which recently exceeded 400,000 cases, has seen a dangerous resurgence in infections after relaxing quarantine restrictions in a bid to revive a collapsed economy. It posted 7448 cases on Saturday, the highest since late May.

Around the region, already brittle healthcare systems are straining or overloaded, while economic growth is set to plunge around 9 per cent, pushing up poverty and unemployment.