The COVID-19 pandemic is already responsible for >1 million deaths worldwide.1 Latin America is one of the most affected regions worldwide, with >300 000 deaths confirmed by September 2020. Latin America is also one of the most urbanized and unequal regions in the world, with wide inequities in longevity in its cities.2 Wide inequities in COVID-19 outcomes have been reported in other settings.3 However, policymakers in some Latin American countries have expressed scepticism about the existence of health inequities in COVID-19 mortality.4 We used mortality, population and census data to show a worsening of pre-existing inequities in mortality in the municipalities that make up the metropolitan region of Santiago (Chile) during the COVID-19 pandemic.