The novel coronavirus has killed at least 297,259 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT Thursday.

At least 4,362,090 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,514,600 are now considered recovered.

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

Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

Over the past 24 hours, 5,259 deaths and 89,210 new cases have been recorded.

The United States has the highest number of total deaths with 84,136 from 1,390,764 cases. At least 243,430 have been declared recovered.

Britain has the second-highest toll with 33,186 deaths from 229,705 cases.

It is followed by Italy with 31,106 deaths and 222,104 cases, Spain with 27,321 deaths and 229,540 infections and France with 27,074 fatalities and 178,060 cases.

China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — has to date declared 4,633 deaths and 82,929 cases. It has 78,195 recovered cases.

Europe has a total of 161,406 deaths from 1,815,627 cases, the United States and Canada have 89,545 deaths and 1,463,042 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean have 24,355 deaths and 426,321 cases, Asia has 11,449 deaths and 327,360 cases, the Middle East has 7,888 deaths and 248,664 cases, Africa has 2,490 deaths from 72,746 cases, and Oceania 126 deaths from 8,330 cases.

Corrections by national authorities or late publication of data mean the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day’s tallies.

Source: AFP