A prison riot in the western Venezuelan state of Portuguesa has left at least 46 people dead and 60 injured, according to a rights group and an opposition lawmaker.

The country's prisons minister, Iris Varela, told local newspaper Ultimas Noticias on Friday that the incident resulted from an escape attempt and that the prison director had been shot and wounded.

Maria Beatriz Martinez, an opposition lawmaker from Portuguesa, said the riot came after a ban on inmates' family members bringing them food during visitation, which is common in Venezuelan prisons.

The visitation restrictions are part of the country's effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in its overcrowded prisons.