Coronavirus: Worldwide death toll climbs to 200,000

There are more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to the tally. as Americans endure the world's deadliest outbreak.

On 11 January, Chinese state media reported the first known death liked to the virus. More than 210 countries and territories have since reported cases.

Five countries have now reported death tolls above 20,000 although the way fatalities are counted varies widely.

The US, Italy and Spain have seen the highest number of reported fatalities.

As the UK's daily data does not include people who die at home or in nursing homes, the true figure is certain to be higher.

France, which does include deaths in care homes in its statistics, said its toll had risen by 369 on Saturday.

There have been 22,614 virus deaths in France since the start of March, but health officials say the mortality rate in hospitals is falling, and the number of people in intensive care has dropped for the seventeenth consecutive day.

Resurgence in some regions

Earlier this week, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted upward trends in Covid-19 cases in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America and South America.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that while most of the epidemics in Western Europe appeared to be stable or in decline, for many countries the disease was just getting started.

"And some (countries) that were affected early in the pandemic are now starting to see a resurgence in cases," he said.

One such country is Singapore, which was initially praised for its success in containing the virus, but has since seen a surge of infections linked to industrial worksites and tightly packed worker dormitories.

Elsewhere in Asia, Chinese authorities reported no new deaths for the tenth consecutive day on Saturday, and South Korea had its second day without a death

Why it's difficult to compare between countries

Statisticians have cautioned that a reported death toll may not always give the full picture of a country's epidemic.

Death rates also depend on who is counted. Some countries are including deaths in care homes in their data, giving a fuller picture, whereas others only count deaths in hospital where Covid-19 has been confirmed.

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