PARIS: The total number of coronavirus cases has topped 10 million globally, according to an AFP tally on Sunday, as the pandemic surges particularly in the United States and Latin America.
At least 10,003,942 infections, including 498,779 deaths, have been registered around the world, according to a count at 0930 GMT based on official sources.
Europe remains the hardest hit continent with 2,637,546 cases including 195,975 fatalities, while the United States has 2,510,323 infections including 125,539 deaths.
The rate of infections worldwide has doubled since May 21, with one million new cases recorded in just the last six days.
In Latin America alone, more than 400,000 new cases were registered in the past week, while India's total topped 500,000 on Saturday, with a record 18,500 in one day.
The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.
Many countries are testing only symptomatic or the most serious cases and some do not have the capacity to carry out widescale testing.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the number of people infected in the United States is 10 times the official figures, or more than 20 million people.
The disease is gaining ground in 30 of the 50 states, mainly the biggest and most populous in the south and west such as California, Texas and Florida.
In Latin America and the Caribbean the virus is spreading the most rapidly. Between June 21 and 27 the region registered 408,401 new cases, compared with 253,624 in the US and Canada and 121,824 in Europe.
In total, Latin America has 2,432,558 infections with 110,695 deaths.
Brazil is the worst affected with 1,313,667 cases - 246,088 in the last seven days, followed by Peru (a total of 275,989 with 24,651 new in the last week), Chile (267,766 total, 31,018 new), Mexico (212,802 total, 37,600 new) and Colombia (88,592 total, 22,959 new).
Asia is also facing a surge in cases, particularly in India which has a total of 528,859 infections including 118,398 over the past seven days.
India is followed by Pakistan (202,955 total, 26,338 new) and Bangladesh (137,787 total, 25,481 new).
In Europe, the number of cases recorded daily has stabilised over the past month at fewer than 20,000, but the World Health Organization has warned of a "significant resurgence" on the continent.
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