WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- The global death toll from the new coronavirus topped 200,000 on Saturday, doubling in about two weeks, despite worldwide efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 as research into vaccines speeds up.
Nearly 90 percent of the total deaths were reported in Europe, including Italy, Spain and France, and the United States as the number of infections surpassed 2.86 million around the world, according to a tally compiled by John Hopkins University from government figures.
The global death toll eclipsed 50,000 on April 2, 100,000 on April 10 and 150,000 on April 17, with the spread of the virus, which causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease, showing no signs of slowing down since it first broke out in China in late last year.
The number of deaths is the highest in the United States, where more than 50,000 people have been killed by the virus.
