More than 100 million people have been officially infected with the new coronavirus since it first appeared in December 2019, according to a count carried out by AFP based on assessments provided by the authorities on Tuesday at 10:30 PM Belgian time.
The figures from the American Johns Hopkins University, although different, also exceed this threshold.
A total of 100,010,798 cases have been officially detected, and 2,151,242 have died as a consequence of the virues, according to AFP figures. The Johns Hopkins counter displayed 100,091,831 cases at 10:00 PM GMT on Tuesday (11:00 PM Belgian time).
This number of diagnosed cases, however, reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Some countries test only severe cases, others use the tests primarily for tracing, and many poor countries have limited testing capacity.
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The vast majority of those infected recover, but some of them retain symptoms for several weeks or even months.
In Belgium, 696,642 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, and 20,879 people have died, according to the latest official figures by the Sciensano public health institute.
The Brussels Times
