Paris (AFP)

The pandemic of the new coronavirus has killed at least 2,640,635 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 Saturday at 11:00 GMT.

More than 119,019,100 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 and exclude ex post revisions made by statistical agencies, such as in Russia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

On Friday, 9,995 new deaths and 553,157 new cases were recorded worldwide.

The countries that have recorded the most new deaths in their latest reports are Brazil with 2,216 new deaths, the United States (1,760) and Mexico (709).

The United States is the most affected country in terms of both deaths and cases, with 532,590 deaths for 29,347,339 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University count.

After the United States, the most affected countries are Brazil with 275,105 deaths and 11,363,380 cases, Mexico with 193,851 deaths (2,157,771 cases), India with 158,446 deaths (11,333,728 cases), and the United Kingdom with 125,343 dead (4,248,286 cases).

Among the hardest hit countries, the Czech Republic is the one with the highest number of deaths in relation to its population, with 216 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Belgium (193), Slovenia (189), the Kingdom United (185) and Montenegro (178).

Europe totaled 893,040 deaths at 11:00 GMT on Saturday for 39,640,013 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 714,493 deaths (22,619,403 cases), the United States and Canada 554,994 deaths (30,249,929 cases), the Asia 262,205 deaths (16,567,700 cases), the Middle East 107,664 deaths (5,888,281 cases), Africa 107,281 deaths (4,020,697 cases), and Oceania 958 deaths (33,079 cases).

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of tests carried out has sharply increased 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, 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