WASHINGTON - The World Health Organization declared Latin America "a new epicenter" of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Surges in infections across much of Central and South America have driven the global case count to nearly 5.2 million, with more than 337,000 deaths.

Brazil registered a record number of new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, with 20,803 cases reported, and exceeded 1,000 deaths in one day for the third time, the government said on Friday. 

According to the Ministry of Health, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 330,890, while deaths in the country rose to 21,048 with a daily increase of 1,001, which put the fatality rate at 6.4 percent. The country climbs to second in cases worldwide.

"In a sense, South America has become a new epicenter for the disease," WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said on Friday.

"We've seen many South American countries with increasing numbers of cases... but certainly the most affected is Brazil at this point."

Unlike in Europe and the United States, where the elderly were hardest-hit, a significant number of deaths in Brazil have been younger people, who are often driven by poverty to work despite the threat of infection.

"Since Brazil has a younger population, it's normal for the number of cases to be higher among under-60s," said Mauro Sanchez, an epidemiologist at the University of Brasilia.

"What's perverse is that a lot of the people who are exposing themselves to the virus are doing it because they don't have a choice."

AFP/Xinhua