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Volunteer doctors prepare to administer swabs at a nursing home in Santa Marinella, near Rome, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Image Credit: AP

Paris: Over 2.5 million people have been confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus worldwide, with 80 percent of cases in Europe and the United States, according to an AFP tally Tuesday based on official figures.

There have been 2,503,429 recorded cases and 172,551 deaths around the world. Europe, the most affected continent, has 1,230,522 official infections and 108,797 fatalities, while the US, the country where COVID-19 is spreading most rapidly, has 788,920 cases and 42,458 deaths.

However these figures likely reflect just a fraction of the actual number of cases, as many countries only test the most serious cases.