Global COVID-19 deaths surpass 200,000

Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 200,000 on Saturday afternoon, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 200,698 people have died of the disease as of 1:50 p.m. (1750 GMT) among 2,865,938 cases worldwide, the CSSE data showed.

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The United States suffered the most fatalities at 52,782 as its total cases reached 924,576. Italy recorded 26,384 deaths and Spain reported 22,902 deaths. France and Britain also reported over 20,000 deaths, according to the CSSE.

Italy records fewest new deaths in nearly six weeks

In another sign of encouragement, Italy reported 415 new deaths related to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the smallest daily increase since March 18, fresh figures showed on Saturday.

Saturday’s number of new deaths was five fewer from Friday’s 420, according to figures from the country’s Civil Protection Department. It raised the nationwide fatalities to 26,384 since the pandemic broke out in northern Italy earlier this year.

Total active infections stood at 105,847, down by 680 cases compared to the previous day, according to the latest data. This is the sixth consecutive daily drop in the number of active infections in Italy.

Of the positive cases, 2,102 are in intensive care (down by 71 patients compared to Friday), 21,533 are hospitalized (down by 535 patients) and the rest, or 77.7 percent, are in isolation at home.

There were 2,622 more recoveries compared to Friday, bringing the nationwide total to 63,120.

The total number of confirmed cases — combining active infections, fatalities and recoveries — rose to 195,351, a daily increase of 2,357 against Friday.

Source: Xinhua