(Paris) The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 5,300,591 people worldwide since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to a report established by the AFP from official sources Sunday at 6 a.m.
More than 269,027,670 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed since the start of the epidemic.
The vast majority of patients recover, but a still poorly evaluated part retains symptoms for weeks or even months.
The figures are based on reports communicated daily by the health authorities in each country. They exclude the revisions carried out a posteriori by certain statistical organizations, which conclude with a much higher number of deaths.
The WHO even estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to COVID-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially recorded.
A large proportion of the less serious or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected despite the intensification of screening in many countries.
On Saturday, 5,858 new deaths and 448,760 new cases were recorded worldwide.
The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are Russia with 1,132 new deaths, India (306, a daily toll including an upward revision of official data) and Ukraine (238).
The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 797,179 deaths for 49,884,588 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.
After the United States, the most affected countries are Brazil with 616,744 deaths and 22,188,179 cases, India with 475,434 deaths (34,690,510 cases), Mexico with 296,620 deaths (3,917,361 cases) , and Russia with 289,483 deaths (10,016,896 cases).
Among the hardest hit countries, Peru is the one with the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, with 612 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria (424), Bosnia (394), Hungary (377), Montenegro (374), North Macedonia (371) and the Czech Republic (322).
Europe had a total Sunday morning 1,570,241 deaths for 88,928,884 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 1,548,058 deaths (46,942,832 cases), Asia 910,765 deaths (57,729,621 cases), the United States United and Canada 827,088 deaths (51,715,986 cases), Africa 224,689 deaths (8,938,540 cases), the Middle East 216,334 deaths (14,443,559 cases), and Oceania 3,416 deaths (328,255 case).
This assessment was carried out using data collected by AFP offices from the competent national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Due to corrections made by the authorities or late publication of the data, the 24 hour increase figures may not correspond exactly to those published the day before.