The coronavirus has killed more than 100,000 people in Europe, nearly two thirds of the overall global death toll, according to an AFP tally.
With a total 100,501 deaths out of 1,136,672 infections, Europe is the hardest-hit continent by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed 157,163 worldwide.
Italy and Spain are the hardest-hit countries in Europe, with 23,227 and 20,043 fatalities respectively, followed by France with a death toll of 19,323 and Britain with 15,464.
Worldwide, at least 2,281,334 people have tested positive to being infected with the coronavirus.
The number of detected cases, however, only reflects a fraction of the actual number of infections, with many countries testing only those cases requiring hospital care.
In the United States, the country where the virus is progressing most rapidly, there are over 706,779 cases including 37,659 fatalities, which makes the United States the country with the most deaths.
The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization, probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.
Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.
Spain's death toll from coronavirus rose at a slower pace today but surpassed 20,000 fatalities, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez opted to ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of the lockdown, taking the restrictions up to 9 May.Mr Sanchez said he wanted to relax restrictions on children, who would be allowed out of their homes after 27 April, though that allowance would be "limited and subject to conditions toa void contagion".
He did not go into further details.Spain has begun to ease a strict lockdown imposed on 14 March and this week opened up some sectors of the economy, including manufacturing. But most people are still confined to their houses except for essential outings, including shopping for food.
The number of deaths increased by 565 today, down from a rise of 585 yesterday, the health ministry said.
The number of coronavirus cases rose to 191,726 from 188,068.
France has reported 642 more coronavirus deaths in hospitals and nursing homes over the last 24 hours but registered new falls in the total numbers of patients in hospitals and intensive care.
The total Covid-19 death toll in France is now 19,323. This includes 7,481 deaths in nursing homes.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to provide daily forecasts of the spread of the virus as the country recorded almost 5,000 new cases in a single day.
Infections began rising sharply in April after reporting of far fewer infections than many European countries in the outbreak's early stages.
Russia's official tally of coronavirus cases stands at 36,793, a record overnight rise of 4,785, and the death toll rose by 40 to 313.
In Moscow, cases jumped by 2,649 to 20,754, and the capital city accounted for half of all new fatalities.
Confirmed infections in the Netherlands have risen by 1,140 to 31,589.
The death toll among people known to have contracted the novel coronavirus increased by 142 to 3,601.
Japan has reported 556 new cases of Covid-19, surpassing the total of 10,000 about three months after the first case was detected in the country.
Nearly one-third of the domestic cases come from Tokyo, where the daily surge has overburdened hospitals, triggering fears that the medical system will collapse.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week expanded his 7 April state of emergency in Tokyo and six urban prefectures to all of Japan.
In a news conference on Friday, Mr Abe expressed concern that people were not observing social distancing.
He announced a 100,000-yen (€855) cash handout to each resident as an incentive to stay at home, especially ahead of 'golden week' holidays at the end of April.
Additional government requests for non-essential businesses to close have been applied only to Tokyo and several other prefectures, and are only now starting in a few other areas. These measures carry no penalties.
South Korea has reported 18 new cases of the coronavirus, its lowest daily jump since 20 February, continuing a downward trend as officials discuss more sustainable forms of social distancing that allows for some communal and economic activity.
Figures released by South Korea's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention brought national totals to 10,653 cases and 232 virus-related deaths. The caseload continued to wane in the hardest-hit city of Daegu, where officials say the number of active cases dropped below 1,000 for the first time since a surge of infections in late February.
At least 993 of overall infections have been linked to arrivals from overseas. Most of these cases were detected in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area over the past month as thousands of students and other South Korean nationals returned home amid worsening outbreaks and suspended school years in Europe and the United States.
Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip has called for vigilance to maintain the hard-won gains against the virus, raising concern over continuing infections at hospitals and local transmissions health workers have been unable to trace.
China reported 27 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, as it tries to stem an upsurge in infections in a north-eastern province bordering Russia.
Twenty of the new cases were in Heilongjiang province, including 13 Chinese nationals who had returned recently from Russia.
The land border with Russia has been closed.
China's official death toll rose sharply to 4,632, reflecting a major upwards revision the previous day by authorities in Wuhan, the nation's hardest-hit city.
The latest confirmed cases brought the total to 82,719, of which 77,029 have recovered and been discharged, the National Health Commission said.
Eighteen officials in Heilongjiang province have been punished for failures in their response to the outbreak, state media reported. They include the deputy mayor of Harbin, the provincial capital, and a vice president of Harbin Medical University. They were given warnings or demerits in their personnel files.
Singapore announced more than 900 new cases of coronavirus a new record high, with nearly all infections traced to packed dormitories housing foreign workers.
The affluent city-state had initially been held as a gold standard in the global fight against Covid-19, but a surge in the number of cases has left the government scrambling to contain the spread.
Around 200,000 mostly South Asian workers live in 43 dorms across the island, forming an essential part of the country's workforce.
A German cruise ship in Australia has departed after a three-week stay during which three people on board died of Covid-19.
The Artania began its journey from Fremantle back to Europe on Saturday, keeping to its scheduled departure.
A total of 79 crew and passengers from the Artania tested positive for coronavirus in Western Australia. They included a 42-year-old crewman from the Philippines who died in a Perth hospital on Thursday, raising the state's toll to seven.
The ship's captain, Morten Hansen, said the crew member had been with the company since 2006 and most recently served as a motorman, describing his death as "heartbreaking".
Two other people from the Artania died last week, one a passenger in his 70s, and the other a 69-year-old crewman.
Some of the crew who are expected to return home on a charter flight were removed from the ship on Saturday and transferred to a Perth hotel. The ship is expected to make stops in Indonesia and the Philippines en route to Germany.
The ship had been scheduled to depart earlier this month before being granted an additional 14-day quarantine period by the Australian Border Force. Some 219 of the state's 541 cases have been among people linked to cruise ships.
Iran has allowed some businesses in the capital and nearby towns to reopen after weeks of lockdown aimed at containing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East.
Iran was slow to respond to the pandemic and held off on imposing widespread restrictions even after other countries in the region with far fewer cases forced most businesses to close. Iran has reported more than 80,000 confirmed cases and over 5,000 deaths.
Gyms, restaurants, shopping centres and Tehran's grand bazaar will remain closed. Shrines and mosques are also shuttered, and a ban on public gatherings remains in place. Government offices have reopened with a third of employees working from home, and schools and universities are still closed.
Africa now has more than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 52 of the continent's 54 countries have reported the virus, with the overall number of cases more than 19,800 as of Saturday morning.
The World Health Organisation has noted a 51% increase in cases in Africa and a 60% jump in deaths.
But the WHO chief has warned that because of a shortage of testing "it's likely the real numbers are higher than reported".
The Africa CDC has said more than one million test kits will be rolled out starting next week.
Covid-19: Europe v United States
Why is it that the United States has 23.6 % more cases of Covid-19 per million of population than Europe, yet has 37.6 % fewer deaths per million? Especially when mortality risks for Covid-19 are supposedly stable worldwide?
Well for one thing the average age of the US population is a full five years younger than the European population and we know the risk of mortality from Covid-19 rises sharply with age. No doubt this is part of the explanation why deaths are higher in Europe.
Also there are significant dangers in comparing national statistics when different countries/states measure the effects and deaths from Covid-19 differently, and also have different testing criteria/priorities for the virus. This too, may also be part of the explanation.
But it is striking that the published statistics show the number of Covid-19 deaths in Europe is running at 10% of all confirmed cases, while in the United States the death toll to date is just 5% of confirmed cases. That is a striking difference.
The numbers are as follows:
The total population of the EU/UK/EEA (31 countries) is 520 million people.
Population of the US is 331 million.
Europe has 902,547 cases and 93,297 deaths.
US has 710,272 cases and 37,175 deaths.
So overall:
Europe has 1,736 cases and 179.4 deaths per million of population.
United States has 2,146 cases and 112 deaths per million of population.
Median age of population in Europe is 43.1 years.
Median age of US population is 38.3 years.
All numbers came from the European Centre for Disease Control and Worldometers.info.
