The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed at least 2,526,075 lives worldwide since the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in China first reported the virus in December 2019, according to the latest update by AFP.
Over 113,758,510 cases of infection have been diagnosed since the start of the pandemic, while at least 69,695,100 persons are considered cured, the French news agency stated in its update, compiled on the basis of official sources at 12.00 noon on Sunday.
The figures are based on daily tallies from the health authorities in each country, and do not include revised figures compiled later by statistical bodies, as in Russia, Spain or the United Kingdom.
On Saturday, 8,713 new deaths and 395,666 new infections were registered worldwide. The countries with the highest number of new deaths are the United States (1,849), Brazil (1,386) and Mexico (783).
The USA is also the country with the highest numbers in terms of both infections and fatalities. So far it has had 511,998 deaths for 28,554,688 registered cases, according to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University.
Other countries with high figures are: Brazil, with 254,221 deaths and 10,517,232 cases ; Mexico, 185,257 deaths, 2,084,128 cases; India, 157,051 deaths, 11,096,731 cases; and the United Kingdom, 122,705 deaths, 4,170,519 cases.
Among the hardest-hit countries, Belgium has the highest per capita death rate, with 190 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Czech Republic (190), Slovenia (185), the United Kingdom (181) and Italy (161).
As at 12.00 noon on Sunday, Europe had 850,906 deaths for 37,517,951 cases all told, Latin America and the Caribbean had 676,702 deaths (21,320,087 cases), the United States and Canada, 533,947 deaths (29,418,237 cases), Asia, 256,035 deaths (16,114,471 cases), the Middle East, 104,046 deaths (5,465,808 cases), Africa, 103,490 deaths (3,889,614 cases), and Oceania, 949 deaths (32,344 cases).
Since the start of the pandemic, the number of tests has increased greatly, while testing and tracing techniques have improved, which has led to higher numbers of declared infections.
However, the number of cases registered is only a fraction of the real caseloads since many less severe and asymptomatic cases remain undetected.
The AFP tally is based on data collected by AFP offices from the competent national authorities and information from the WHO. Due to corrections made by authorities or the late publishing of data, the figures on increases over a 24-hour period may sometimes differ from those published the day before.
The Brussels Times
