More than a quarter of a million people have died from the novel coronavirus worldwide, with over 85 per cent of them in Europe and the United States, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

At 2230 GMT on Monday (2.30am Tuesday, UAE), the US had recorded 68,689 virus deaths, the most for any single country, while Europe was the hardest-hit continent with 145,023 confirmed fatalities.

Since it emerged in China in December, Covid-19 has infected more than 3.5 million people and devastated economies across the globe.

The virus death toll in the US was followed by those in Italy (29,079), the United Kingdom (28,734), Spain (25,428) and France (25,201).

There have been more than 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus infections in Europe, but many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), are widely considered likely to reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Source: AFP