The coronavirus pandemic has killed 25,066 people, with Europe accounting for most of the deaths, according to an AFP tally at 1430 GMT yesterday based on official statistics.
Europe was the worst-hit continent with 17,314 fatalities. Italy had the highest number of deaths in the world at 8,165, followed by Spain (4,858) and China (3,292).
At least 547,034 coronavirus cases have been registered around the world since December.
The death toll in Spain soared over 4,800 yesterday after 769 people died in 24 hours, in what was a record one-day figure for fatalities in the country, the government said.
Spain has the world’s second-highest death toll after Italy, and has so far suffered 4,858 deaths, while the number of cases jumped to 64,059.
Although the figures showed a daily increase of nearly 8,000 new infections, the uptick comes as Spain moves to dramatically increase its rate of testing, ordering millions of new kits from around the world.
Despite the increase, the rate of new infections appears to be slowing, registering a 14 per cent increase compared with 18 per cent on Thursday.
Even so, the number of deaths over a 24-hour period was far higher than Italy, which counted 662 deaths in its last update on Thursday night.
Italy has so far suffered 8,165 deaths as a result of the epidemic with 80,539 people infected.
Until Thursday night, Italy had registered the largest number of declared cases until it was overtaken by the United States, where 85,991 people have now tested positive for the virus.
