Global deaths from coronavirus races past 20,000 with 460,000 confirmed cases

The coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 21,191 people worldwide since it first appeared in China in December, official figures say.

More than 468,644 confirmed cases of infection have been diagnosed in 182 countries and territories since the start of the pandemic. (March 26, 2020, 00:00 GMT)

The tallies, using data collected from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), are likely to reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are now only testing cases that require hospitalisation.

Since the tally - carried out on Tuesday at 7pm - 2,341 new deaths and 43,010 new cases have been recorded worldwide.

The countries that recorded the most new deaths in 24 hours were Spain with 738, Italy with 683 and France with 231.

Italy, which recorded its first death linked to the coronavirus at the end of February, now has 7,503 deaths with 74,386 cases.

After Italy, the most affected countries are Spain with 3,434 deaths for 47,610 cases, mainland China with 3,281 deaths (81,218 cases), Iran with 2,077 deaths (27,017 cases), and France with 1,331 deaths (25,233 cases).

Since Tuesday at 7pm, Jamaica, Cameroon, Estonia and Niger have announced their first deaths linked to the virus. Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Mali, Libya, Belize, Grenada and Dominica, have announced their first cases.

Europe had 239,912 cases and 13,824 deaths, Asia 99,927 cases with 3,596 deaths and the US and Canada had 62,194 cases with 854 deaths.

The Middle East had 32,182 cases and 2,123 deaths, Latin America and the Caribbean 7,529 cases with 124 deaths, Oceania 2,656 cases and nine deaths and Africa 2,631 cases and 69 deaths.