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Global coronavirus cases top 2.6 million with 181,234 deaths
PARIS, April 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to at least 181,234 on Wednesday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT.
More than 2,602,670 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.
Of these cases, at least 593,800 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.
Since the previous day, 5,576 new deaths and 60,299 infections were recorded worldwide. The United States, the worst-hit country, registered 1,105 of those deaths, Britain 759 and France 544.
The US death toll stood at 45,950 with 835,316 infections. At least 76,070 patients have recovered.
Italy is the next most affected country in terms of deaths with 25,085 fatalities and 187,327 confirmed infections.
Spain has 21,717 deaths for 208,389 cases and France 21,340 deaths for 155,860 cases ahead of the United Kingdom with 18,100 deaths for 133,495 cases.
China — excluding Hong Kong and Macau — has to date declared 4,632 deaths and 82,788 cases — just 30 new infections from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Europe has listed 1,261,757 cases and 112,855 deaths to date, the US and Canada together have 875,112 cases with 47,973 deaths, Asia 178,630 cases with 7,389 deaths, the Middle East 137,642 cases with 5,902 deaths, Latin America and the Caribbean 116,131 cases with 5,797 deaths, Africa 25,461 cases with 1,223 deaths and Oceania 7,942 cases with 95 deaths.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1101HRS