Coronavirus: Death toll passes 500,000 worldwide as confirmed cases reach 10 million

The worldwide death toll from coronavirus has passed the 500,000 mark.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University revealed the grim milestone was reached on Sunday evening.

It said there were now more than 10 million confirmed cases globally of COVID-19.

The worst-affected country remains the US, which has had more than 125,000 deaths, about one in four of the total worldwide.

It is followed by Brazil with more than 57,600 deaths and the UK with more than 43,600. A British government adviser said on Sunday he is “worried” about a spike in cases within weeks.

Read more: Boris Johnson admits coronavirus has been a disaster for the UK

According to Johns Hopkins University, the number of confirmed cases worldwide has passed 10,145,000 and there have been more than 501,800 deaths.

The true death toll from the virus, which first emerged in China late last year, is widely believed to be significantly higher.

There have been more than 2.5 million reported cases in the US, about a quarter of the global tally.

California governor Gavin Newsom has rolled back reopenings of bars in seven counties, including Los Angeles.

He ordered them to close immediately and urged eight other counties to issue local health orders mandating the same.

Meanwhile, Texas governor Greg Abbott said COVID-19 had taken "a very swift and very dangerous turn" in his state, as daily cases increased to more than 5,000 per day from about 2,000 per day in the past few weeks.

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Businesses there were allowed to reopen in early May but bars and restaurants were shut down at the end of last week after a spike in coronavirus cases.

Abbott was praised by US vice-president Mike Pence, who said: "You flattened the curve here in Texas… but about two weeks ago something changed.”

Pence urged people to wear masks when unable to practise social distancing.

US health secretary Alex Azar defended Donald Trump’s decision to rarely wear a mask in public.

He said because the US president is tested regularly that he is in "very different circumstances than the rest of us". Trump has recently visited a number of coronavirus hotspots in the US.

Following spikes in some states, Azar said the public "have to take ownership" of their own behaviour by social distancing and wearing masks if possible.

The World Health Organization announced another daily record in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the world – topping 189,000 in a single 24-hour period.

Read more: Leicester MP calls for local lockdown after spike in coronavirus cases

The tally eclipses the previous record a week earlier of more than 183,000 cases.

New York, once the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, is now "on the exact opposite end”, its governor Andrew Cuomo said.

The state reported five new virus deaths on Saturday, its lowest reported daily death toll since 15 March. During its peak in April, nearly 800 people were dying every day.

New York still has the most COVID-19 deaths in the US, with almost 25,000.

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