COVID-19: Global death toll surpasses 35,000

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Global death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed over 35,000 on Monday, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The virus known as COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China last December, has spread to at least 177 countries and regions around the globe, while a total of 35,019 people have died, and confirmed cases hit 737,929.

In all, 156,507 people diagnosed with the virus have recovered from the disease.

Italy, Spain, China and Iran continue to be the most affected countries, while the U.S. is the country where most coronavirus-related cases have been seen with more than 143,000 cases. The U.S. has now 2,513 fatalities from the virus.

Italy recorded the highest number of deaths with 10,779 fatalities with over 97,600 cases, while Spain has 7,340 deaths among confirmed cases of nearly 85,200. China, the ground zero of the virus, followed Spain with 3,308 deaths, while its confirmed cases neared 82,200.

Meanwhile, the death toll is 2,757 in Iran as confirmed number of cases is almost 41,500.

Many countries have restricted flights from the most affected places and implemented lockdowns as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a pandemic and Europe the new epicenter of the outbreak.

The Johns Hopkins figures far exceed official tallies compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that are updated daily, but only for cases reported by 4.00 p.m. local time (2000GMT) the preceding day.