Global coronavirus death toll hits 250,000

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped a quarter of a million on Tuesday.

An AFP tally of official figures showed Europe is the hardest-hit continent with around 145,000 fatalities. The US has recorded close to 68,700. Together they account for more than 85 percent of global deaths.

Since the disease first surfaced in China late last year the number of confirmed cases has reached almost 3.6 million.

The grim figures were compounded Monday by an internal government estimate in Washington that forecast the daily COVID-19 infection rate in the US could surge more than eight-fold to 200,000 per day by June 1, and the death toll could rise to 3,000.