About 30 per cent of those cases, or two million infections, are in the United States, though the fastest growing outbreak is in Latin America, which now accounts for roughly 16 per cent of all cases.

Globally the number of deaths from the novel coronavirus is approaching 400,000.

The US accounts for about one-quarter of all fatalities but deaths in South America are rapidly rising.

The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 in just five months is now equal to the number of people who die annually from malaria, one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases.

The first COVID-19 death was reported on January 10 in Wuhan, China but it was early April before the death toll passed 100,000, according to the Reuters tally of official reports from governments. It took 23 days to go from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.

The US has the highest death toll in the world at almost 110,000. Fatalities in Brazil are rising rapidly and the country may overtake the United Kingdom to have the second-largest number of deaths in the world.

The total number of deaths is believed to be higher than the officially reported 400,000 as many countries lack supplies to test all victims and some countries do not count deaths outside of a hospital.

Australian Associated Press