PARIS/WASHINGTON, May 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 5.5 million cases of the new coronavirus have been officially declared in the world, more than two-thirds of them in Europe and the United States, according to a tally compiled as of 0740 GMT on Tuesday.
At least 5,505,307 infections including 346,188 deaths have been recorded, notably in Europe, the hardest-hit continent with 2,047,401 cases and 172,824 deaths, and the United States with 1,662,768 cases and 98,223 deaths.
The number of declared cases in the world has doubled in a month, and more than one million new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the last 11 days.
The number of diagnosed cases however reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections as many countries test only serious cases or lack testing capacity.
The United States has posted a toll of less than 700 new coronavirus deaths for the third day in a row, the Johns Hopkins University tracker said Tuesday.
A total of 657 people have died in the past 24 hours as of 8:30 pm (0030 GMT), the Baltimore-based institution said.
The overall death toll is now 98,875, and the number of cases of infection stands at more than 1.68 million, it said.
Both are the highest anywhere in the world. — NNN-AGENCIES
