Paris (AFP)

The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 2,498,003 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 AFP from from official sources Thursday at 11:00 GMT.

More than 112,512,890 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed since the start of the epidemic, of which at least 69,052,600 people are now considered cured.

The figures are based on daily reports from the health authorities in each country and exclude ex post revisions by statistical agencies, such as Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

On the day of Wednesday, 11,141 new deaths and 432,248 new cases were recorded worldwide.

The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are the United States with 2,337 new deaths, Brazil (1,428) and Mexico (1,006).

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 505,899 deaths for 28,336,188 cases, according to the count from Johns Hopkins University.

After the United States, the countries most affected are Brazil with 249,957 deaths and 10,324,463 cases, Mexico with 182,815 deaths (2,060,908 cases), India with 156,705 deaths (11,046,914 cases), and the United Kingdom with 121,747 dead (4,144,577 cases).

Among the hardest hit countries, Belgium is the one that deplores the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, with 190 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by the Czech Republic (185), Slovenia (183), the Kingdom United (179) and Italy (160).

Europe totaled 841,428 deaths for 37,032,495 cases Thursday at 11:00 GMT, Latin America and the Caribbean 667,824 deaths (21,008,411 cases), the United States and Canada 527,688 deaths (29,190,374 cases), the Asia 254,426 deaths (16,016,016 cases), the Middle East 103,221 deaths (5,376,239 cases), Africa 102,468 deaths (3,857,182 cases), and Oceania 948 deaths (32,173 cases).

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of tests carried out has increased sharply and screening and tracing techniques have improved, leading to an increase in declared contaminations.

The number of cases diagnosed, however, reflects only a fraction of the actual total of contaminations, with a large proportion of the less serious or asymptomatic cases still remaining undetected.

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.

© 2021 AFP