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Coronavirus pandemic

Number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide exceeds 5 mln - TASS

The number of those infected has doubled in a span of one month

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe has exceeded five million, according to TASS’ estimates based on official statistics from countries, expert and media conclusions.

According to the latest update, as many as 5,000,890 people have contracted COVID-19 worldwide and 6.55% of them, or 327,724, have died. The number of those infected has doubled in a span of one month.

Most of COVID-19 cases are reported from the United States, which accounts for nearly a third of all those infected. According to the New York Times, the United States has more than 1,558,700 cases. As many as 93,300 patients, or 5.99%, have died. Next is Russia, with 308,705 cases and 2,972 deaths. Russia is followed by Brazil, which is currently demonstrating one of the world’s highest incidence growth rates, with 293,357 cases and 18,894 fatalities (6.44%).

But the situation looks different when seen from the point of view of cases per 100,000 of the population. In this case, countries with small populations and a small number of infection cases - San Marino and Vatican City - take first places. They are followed by Qatar, with 1.3% of the population having the disease. The United States is 12th from this point of view and Russia is fortysomething.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

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