GENEVA, August 6. /TASS/. More than 206,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered worldwide in the past day, exceeding 18.35 million, while the coronavirus-related fatalities increased by over 5,000 to surpass 696,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its daily bulletin on Wednesday.

As of 11.00 Moscow time on August 5, as many as 18,354,342 novel coronavirus cases and 696,147 coronavirus-associated deaths were registered across the globe. The number of confirmed cases grew by 206,709 in the past 24 hours and the number of fatalities increased by 5,116.

The day before, 219,862 new cases and 4,278 fatalities were documented throughout the world. The WHO statistics are based on officially confirmed data provided by countries.

South and North America account for the majority of confirmed coronavirus cases - 9,841,842. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew by 100,115 and the number of deaths - by 2,600 to top 367,934. The number of confirmed COVID-2019 cases in Europe amounts to 3,451,556 and the number of fatalities is 214,731. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew, by 21,623 and the number of deaths went up by 476.

South East Asia has 2,299,433 cases and 48,569 fatalities. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew by 56,777 and the number of deaths - by 995.

The biggest number of coronavirus cases is registered in the United States (4,678,610), followed by Brazil (2,750,318), India (1,908,254), Russia (866,627), South Africa (521,318), Mexico (443,813), Peru (433,100), Chile (362,962), Colombia (327,850) and Iran (314,786).

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.