The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has claimed at least 2,640,635 lives worldwide since the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in China first reported the pandemic in late December 2019, according to the latest tally by French news agency AFP.
Over 119,019,100 cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic, according to AFP, whose numbers are based on figures provided by official sources in each country by 11.00 GMT on Saturday and statistics from the WHO. They do not include revisions made later by statistical bodies, as in Russia, Spain or the United Kingdom.
Most people officially diagnosed with COVID-19 recover, but a still unknown number show symptoms for weeks, and even months.
On Friday, 9,995 new deaths and 553,157 new cases were registered worldwide.
The countries with the highest number of new fatalities in their latest daily reports include Brazil, with 2,216 new deaths, United States (1,760) and Mexico (709).
The United States continued to top the list of worst affected countries in terms of both cases and deaths, with a cumulative total of 532,590 fatalities for 29,347,339 infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, which maintains a COVID-19 database.
The USA is followed by Brazil, with 275,105 deaths for 11,363,380 cases, Mexico, 193,851 deaths for 2,157,771 cases, India, 158,446 deaths (11,333,728 cases), and the United Kingdom, with 125,343 deaths (4,248,286 cases).
Of all the worst affected countries, the Czech Republic has the highest COVID-19 mortality rate. It registered 216 deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Belgium (193), Slovenia (189), United Kingdom (185) and Montenegro (178).
Europe had a cumulative total of 893,040 deaths from 39,640,013 cases as at 11.00 GMT on Saturday, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, with 714,493 deaths for 22,619,403 infections. The United States and Canada had 554,994 deaths all told since the start of the pandemic, and 30,249,929 infections.
Asia registered 262,205 deaths for 16,567,700 cases, while the Middle East had a death toll of 107,660 deaths for 5,888,281 cases. There were 197,281 deaths for 4,020,697 cases in Africa and 958 deaths for 33,079 cases in Oceania.
Testing numbers have increased phenomenally since the start of the pandemic while testing and tracing techniques have improved, leading to higher numbers of infections being declared.
However, diagnosed cases only reflect a fraction of real infections since a significant number of less serious or asymptomatic cases are still not being detected.
The Brussels Times
