JUST IN: Global Coronavirus cases surpass 2 million, over 128,000 deaths

 

• More than 500,000 people recover globally

The global tally for confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed two million on Wednesday, just four months after it was first detected in China.

A tally kept by Johns Hopkins University placed the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 2,000,984 worldwide, with at least 128,071 deaths.

More than half a million people worldwide have recovered.

The United States remains the hardest-hit country by the virus, with more than 609,000 confirmed infections and at least 26,059 deaths attributed to the virus in all 50 states. The majority of the cases and deaths have been seen in New York, which is considered the country’s epicenter.

The number of cases and deaths also continued to climb in Spain, which recorded 523 new deaths attributed to the virus in the past 24 hours.

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Spanish health officials said 5,092 new infections – or a three percent day-to-day increase – brought the total of confirmed cases to 177,633. The country’s overall death toll stood at 18,579, the world’s third-worst behind the U.S. and Italy.

Earlier this week, Spain began to ease movement restrictions from its lockdown, allowing manufacturing, construction and other nonessential activity in an attempt to cushion the economic impact of the pandemic.

China, where the virus was first detected in its southern city of Wuhan, has reported 83,355 confirmed cases and at least 3,346 deaths attributed to the virus. However, international experts have questioned the credibility of the tallies.