Washington, March 20 (IANS): The overall global death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic has increased to 10,030 on Friday, while the total number of confirmed cases stood at 244,523, according to latest updates by The Johns Hopkins University in the US.
Italy, the worst-hit country outside China, reported the maximum number of deaths due to the deadly disease at 3,405, which was followed by the Asian giant, where the virus first emerged last December, with 3,248 victims, the updates showed.
China topped the number of confirmed cases with 81,199 infections, followed by Italy at 41,035.
Globally, a total of 4,440 people recovered from the disease, said the University updates.
While China for a second consecutive day on Friday did not record any new domestic coronavirus infections and also the lowest number of new deaths due to the deadly disease in two months, the pandemic was quickly escalting.
Besides Italy and China, the other badly hit nations in terms of cases were Iran (18,407), Spain (18,077), Germany (15,320) and the US (14,250).
The third worst-hit country in terms of fatalities is Iran (1,284).