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 6:25 a.m. 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.
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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.
The actual number is likely far higher due to variance in how different countries report deaths from the COVID-19 virus.
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