Mexico, with over 500,000 coronavirus cases, to help with vaccine

Healthcare workers arrive to a chinampa, or floating garden, after navigating canals to make tests for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Xochimilco, one of the highly contagious zones, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, August 13, 2020. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico, having hit over half a million official coronavirus cases and 55,000 deaths as the pandemic rages across Latin America, will help produce a vaccine that could be distributed in the region next year, authorities said on Thursday.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said the pandemic is losing force in Mexico, though the death toll of 55,293 stands as the world's third highest, behind the United States and Brazil.