GENEVA, April 30. /TASS/. The number of people infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide has risen by almost 72,000 over the past day. The number of fatalities has risen by more than 9,000, which is 4,000 more than the day before, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday.

As of 11:00 Moscow time on April 30, 3,090,445 coronavirus cases and 217,769 deaths have been registered worldwide. The number of infected people has risen by 71,839 and the number of fatalities - by 9,797. Europe accounts for the largest number of new infections and deaths (1,434,649 and 135,961 respectively). The number of infected people there has risen by 27,824 over the past 24 hours, the number of fatalities - by 6,650.

In North and South America, 1,246,190 people have contracted the virus, 65,228 people have died. The Eastern Mediterranean Region ranks third in the number of infected people (182,417 new cases and 7,447 fatalities).

According to WHO data, the United States accounts for the largest number of infected people (1,003,974). It is followed by Spain (212,917), Italy (203,591), the UK (165,225), Germany (159,119), France (127,066), Turkey (117,589), Russia (106,498), Iran (93,657) and China (84,373).

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.