The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 750,000 people worldwide since its discovery in China in December, according to an AFP count from official sources on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. KST.
In total, 750,003 deaths have been recorded worldwide out of 20,667,684 reported cases. Latin America and the Caribbean are the most affected region with 228,572 deaths. Almost half of global Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in four countries: the United States (166,038), Brazil (104,201), Mexico (54,666) and India (47,033).
Mortality has doubled since June 2
The number of deaths from Covid-19 has doubled since June 2 and more than 100,000 new deaths have been recorded in 17 days since July 26.
It was 114 days between the announcement of the first official death in China and the census of 250,000 deaths worldwide, then 55 more days to exceed the mark of half a million deaths recorded on June 28.
Rapid spread in Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean, the most affected region in the world in terms of number of deaths (228,572) and cases (5,822,258), is still experiencing rapid progression of the pandemic: 18,627 new deaths from Covid-19 recorded its last seven days. Next come Canada and the United States (8,025), Asia (7,807), Africa (2,654), Europe (2,575), the Middle East (2,162) and Oceania ( 106).
In total, behind Latin America, Europe had 214,605 deaths for 3,433,815 cases, ahead of Canada and the United States (175,082, 5,318,592), Asia (75,896, 3,709,662), and the Middle East (31,182, 1,283,377).
Oceania and Africa, the least affected continents
Africa (24,272, 1,075,589), the least affected continent after Oceania (394, 24,391), has recorded more than half of its deaths since July 6.
The United States is the country with the most new deaths in the last week (7,979), ahead of Brazil (6,945), India (6,296), Mexico (4,968) and Colombia (2 213).
Death rate: Belgium sadly remains in the lead
Among the hardest hit countries, Belgium is the one with the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, with 85 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the United Kingdom (69), Peru (66), Spain (61), and Italy (58).
