Europe records over 1.5 million COVID-19 cases

Europe has recorded more than 1.5 million cases of COVID-19, just under half the worldwide total, according to an AFP tally at 0850 GMT on Saturday.

With at least 1,506,853 infections, including 140,260 deaths, Europe is the hardest-hit continent. Across the world, 3,350,224 cases and 238,334 deaths have been recorded.

Spain, with 215,216 cases and 24,824 deaths, Italy with 207,428 cases and  28,236 deaths, Britain (177,454 and 27,510), France (167,346 and  24,594) and Germany (161,703 and 6,575) are the five European countries with official tolls over 150,000.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.