A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has claimed the lives of more than 42,000 people around the world, including over 4,000 in the United States.
The new respiratory virus, which causes an illness known officially as COVID-19, was first detected in China back in December. There are now more than 860,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 across 180 countries and regions, spanning every continent except Antartica. Over 178,000 of those patients have recovered from the disease, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
With more than 189,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19, the United States has by far the highest national tally in the world. At least 4,081 people have died from the disease in the United States, eclipsing China’s death toll.
Still, Italy and Spain have the highest nationwide death tolls, accounting for half of all the world’s fatalities from the virus, with a collective total of nearly 21,000.
