Covid-19 Worldwide: Over 38.5 Million Infections Since Start of Pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than 38,571,770 people have been infected worldwide with the novel coronavirus since it was first detected in December in China, according to an assessment by the France-Presse (AFP) news agency yesterday, October 15th.

The number of deaths over the same period is reported to have been 1,093,624 and at least 26,662,700 people are believed to be cured, according to the AFP.

In the past 24 hours 5,948 deaths and 365,249 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded. The countries which registered the most deaths over the past day were the United States with 794 deaths, Brazil with 749 and India with 680.

The United States is the most affected country, both in number of deaths and cases, with a total of 216,904 fatalities among 7,917,189 cases, according to a Johns Hopkins University balance. At least 3,155,794 people have been declared cured.

After the United States, the countries with the highest death toll are Brazil with 151,747 deaths in 5,140,863 cases, India with 111,266 (7,307,097 cases), Mexico with 84,898 (829,396 infections) and the United Kingdom with 43,155 deaths (654,644 cases).

Among the most affected countries, Peru records the highest number of deaths compared to its population, 102 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Belgium (89), Bolivia (72) and Spain (71).

China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao) declared a total of 85,622 cases (11 in the past 24 hours), including 4,634 deaths (0 in the past day), and 80,748 patients cured.

Latin America and the Caribbean yesterday reported 373,930 deaths in 10,258,546 cases, Europe 245,984 deaths (6,882,373 infections), the United States and Canada 226,566 deaths (8,106.148 cases), Asia 155,781 deaths (9,436,577 infections), the Middle East 51,566 deaths (2,249,650 cases), Africa 38,832 deaths (1,605,588 cases) and Oceania 1,001 deaths (32,890 infections).

However, the number of diagnosed cases only reflects a fraction of the true number of infections. Some countries only test for severe cases, others use the tests primarily for screening, and many poor countries have limited screening capacities.

The assessment was made based on data collected by AFP delegations from the competent national authorities and information from the World Health Organization.