Global Covid-19 death toll reaches 549,701

PARIS: The novel coronavirus has killed 549,701 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT Thursday.

At least 12,066,880 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least 6,431,400 are now considered recovered. The United States is the worst-hit country with 132,309 deaths from 3,055,144 cases. At least 953,420 people have been declared recovered.

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are: Brazil with 67,964 deaths from 1,713,160 cases, United Kingdom with 44,517 deaths from 286,979 cases, Italy with 34,914 deaths from 242,149 cases and Mexico with 32,796 deaths from 275,003 cases.

China - excluding Hong Kong and Macau - has to date declared 83,581 cases (9 new since Wednesday), including 4,634 deaths (0 new), and 78,590 recoveries. Europe overall has 201,080 deaths from 2,780,745 cases, the United States and Canada 141,077 deaths from 3,161,512 infections, Latin America and the Caribbean 135,483 deaths from 3,108,263 cases, Asia 40,586 deaths from 1,611,883 cases, Middle East 19,101 deaths from 869,766 cases, Africa 12,239 deaths from 524,094 cases, and Oceania 135 deaths from 10,619 cases.