COVID-19 global death toll exceeds 400,000

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – The worldwide death toll due to the novel coronavirus has exceeded 400,000 since the outbreak first emerged in China last December.

At least 401,900 people have since died.

6,926,560 cases of coronavirus have also been registered in 196 countries and territories.

Of these, at least 3,389,218 have since recovered.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 111,858 deaths from 1,980,879 cases.

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Britain with 40,465 deaths from 284,868 cases, Brazil with 35,211 deaths and 651,980 infections, Italy with 33,846 deaths from 234,801 cases, and France with 29,142 deaths and 153,634 cases.

China has to date declared 4,634 deaths and 83,030 infections. It has 78,329 recovered cases.

European countries that are among the hardest hit are steadily reopening with the infection rates slowing even as Latin America is battered by the epidemic, especially Brazil which now has the world’s third-highest number of virus deaths.

The EU said it could reopen borders to travellers from outside the region in early July, after some countries within the bloc reopened to European visitors.