Paris (AFP)

The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 1,750,780 worldwide since the WHO office in China reported the onset of the disease at the end of December 2019, according to an assessment established by AFP from from official sources Saturday at 11:00 GMT.

More than 79,758,000 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed since the start of the epidemic, of which at least 50,405,700 are now considered cured.

This number of diagnosed cases, however, reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

Some countries only test severe cases, others prioritize testing for tracing, and many poor countries have limited testing capacity.

On Friday, 8,389 new deaths and 485,359 new cases were reported worldwide.

The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are the United States with 1,414 new deaths, Mexico (665) and the United Kingdom (570).

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 330,279 deaths for 18,761,363 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.

At least 6,298,082 people have been declared cured there.

After the United States, the countries most affected are Brazil with 190,488 deaths and 7,448,560 cases, India with 147,343 deaths (10,169,118 cases), Mexico with 121,837 deaths (1,372,243 cases), and the 'Italy with 71,359 deaths (2,028,354 cases).

Among the hardest hit countries, Belgium is the one with the highest number of deaths compared to its population, with 165 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Slovenia (121), Bosnia (119), Italy (118) and North Macedonia (115).

Europe totaled 543,993 deaths at 11:00 GMT on Saturday for 25,183,892 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 495,436 deaths (15,085,477 cases), the United States and Canada 344,999 deaths (19,295,507 cases), the Asia 214,966 deaths (13,660,777 cases), the Middle East 88,512 deaths (3,875,731 cases), Africa 61,930 deaths (2,625,723 cases), and Oceania 944 deaths (30,898 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 data releases, the 24 hour increase figures may not correspond exactly to those published the day before.

© 2020 AFP