Global coronavirus death toll surges past 475,000

The number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus virus worldwide has surged past 475,000, according to an AFP tally from official sources at 0625 GMT on Wednesday.

The death toll has doubled in under two months and in total 477,117 fatalities have been recorded from 9,263,743 cases across the globe.

Europe remains the worst-hit region with 193,800 dead from 2,557,761 cases, but the pandemic is spreading rapidly through Latin America where 100,378 have died from 2,163,835 cases.