Brazil has surpassed 30,000 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak as the disease continued to rip through Latin America, AFP reported. Meanwhile, Italy ⁠— at one point the hardest-hit country ⁠— prepared to reopen its borders in time for the European summer.

After chalking up devastating human losses in Europe, the virus has now taken a firm grip in Latin America, where Brazil surpassed a chilling landmark.

The latest official Covid-19 death toll of 31,199 is the fourth-highest in the world, after US, Britain and Italy.