(Paris) The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 5,148,939 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 Monday at 6 a.m.
More than 256,913,380 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 severe or asymptomatic cases also remain undetected despite the intensification of screening in many countries.
On Sunday, 4,373 new deaths and 394,226 new cases were recorded worldwide.
The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are Russia with 1,241 new deaths, Ukraine (326) and India (249, a daily toll including an upward revision of official data).
The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 771,118 deaths for 47,730,591 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.
After the United States, the most affected countries are Brazil with 612,659 deaths and 22,017,276 cases, India with 465,911 deaths (34,518,901 cases), Mexico with 292,471 deaths (3,863,362 cases) , and Russia with 265,336 deaths (9,366,839 cases).
Among the hardest hit countries, Peru is the one with the highest number of deaths relative to its population, with 609 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Bulgaria (391), Bosnia (372), Montenegro (357), North Macedonia (357), Hungary (339) and the Czech Republic (300).
Latin America and the Caribbean had a total of 1,534,930 deaths for 46,464,227 cases on Monday at 6 a.m., Europe 1,485,491 deaths (81,032,638 cases), Asia 889,965 deaths (56,826,805 cases) , the United States and Canada 800,611 deaths (49,495,712 cases), Africa 221,579 deaths (8,585,811 cases), the Middle East 213,203 deaths (14,213,621 cases), and Oceania 3,160 death (294,571 cases).
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.