Coronavirus toll at 1900 GMT Wednesday

PARIS: The novel coronavirus has killed at least 579,938 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.

At least 13,407,780 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories. Of these, at least 7,264,600 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 symptomatic or the most serious cases. Since 1900 GMT on Tuesday, 5,392 new deaths and 214,211 new cases were recorded worldwide.

The countries with the most new deaths were Brazil with 1,300 new deaths, followed by Mexico with 836, and United States with 787.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 136,900 deaths from 3,465,031 cases. At least 1,049,098 people have been declared recovered.

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 74,133 deaths from 1,926,824 cases, United Kingdom with 45,053 deaths from 291,911 cases, Mexico with 36,327 deaths from 311,486 cases, and Italy with 34,997 deaths from 243,506 cases.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Belgium with 84 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by United Kingdom with 66, Spain 61, Italy 58, and Sweden 55.

China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has to date declared 83,611 cases (6 new since Tuesday), including 4,634 deaths (0 new), and 78,693 recoveries.

Europe overall has 203,793 deaths from 2,879,566 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 149,597 deaths from 3,495,775 infections, the United States and Canada 145,740 deaths from 3,573,752 cases, Asia 45,518 deaths from 1,860,260 cases, Middle East 21,364 deaths from 957,272 cases, Africa 13,786 deaths from 629,080 cases, and Oceania 140 deaths from 12,077 cases.

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day's tallies.