Global COVID-19 death toll crosses 100,000; US, Italy worst hit

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The number of deaths linked to the novel coronavirus reached 100,000 amid about 1.6 million cases and more than 365,000 recoveries on Friday. Italy has registered the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, more than 18,000, while the United States reported the majority of the infections, nearly half a million.

The U.S. case tally stands at 466,393, with 16,703 fatalities. At least 26,522 Americans have recovered.

Spain has had 157,022 cases and 15,843 deaths. Italy has had fewer cases at 143,626, but the highest number of deaths in the world, at 18,279. France has overtaken Germany in cases with a tally of 118,790, with 12,228 deaths. Germany has had 118,235 cases and just 2,607 deaths.

The first death came in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on Jan. 9. It took 83 days for the first 50,000 deaths to be recorded and just eight more for the toll to climb to 100,000.

China, where the virus was first reported late last year, has had 82,940 cases and 3,340 deaths, although some have questioned the accuracy of those numbers. Iran, another hot spot, has 68,192 cases and 4,232 deaths. The number of countries reporting cases rose to 185 as Yemen reported its first infection.

Global COVID-19 death toll