SANTIAGO – The total number of coronavirus-related cases in Chile rose to 57,581 on Wednesday, according to the government data, with 589 fatalities and 23,992 recoveries.

The world’s largest copper producer has the third highest number of virus cases in Latin America, after Brazil and Peru.

Meanwhile, new cases of the novel coronavirus that emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December are being reported daily around the world. Global coronavirus cases have surpassed 5 million, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe to report the largest portion of new daily cases globally.

Latin America accounted for around a third of the 91,000 cases reported earlier this week. Europe and the United States each accounted for just over 20%.

With more than 5 million cases, the virus has infected more people in under six months than the annual total of severe flu cases, which the World Health Organization estimates is around 3 million to 5 million globally.

The pandemic has claimed nearly 333,000 lives, though the true number is thought to be higher as testing is still limited and many countries do not include fatalities outside of hospitals. More than 2 million people have recovered to date.

Despite the continued increase in cases, many countries are opening schools and businesses following weeks of lockdown that have stemmed the spread of coronavirus.