Coronavirus Pandemic: Global cases cross 4 lakh, Italy records 743 deaths in 24 hours

The coronavirus death toll Italy neared 7,000-mark on Tuesday as it recorded 743 deaths in just 24 hours. The number of cases in the country also neared 70,000 as the global death toll crossed 18,000. 

The number of affected people worldwide crossed 4 lakh-mark, with the Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus database putting the figure at 407,485. According to the database, 18,227 people have been killed by COVID-19 so far. 

The number of cases in the past two weeks has seen a dramatic jump. While it took 67 days from the detection of the first case to reach one lakh, most of them in China, it took 11 days to infect another one lakh people. The number of cases rose exponentially after that as it took only four days to reach from 2 to 3 lakh and three days to add another one lakh cases as it crossed 4-lakh mark on Tuesday. 

In Italy, the death toll rose to 6,820 on Tuesday as the number of infections jumped to 69,176, an increase of 5,249 from Monday. On second place, China has recorded 81,171 cases of coronavirus infection while 3,277 people have died in the country due to COVID-19.

In terms of cases per million, China's is 56 while Italy has the total case per million population of 1144. China has registered 2 deaths/million while it is 1143 in Italy. 

The most dramatic rise in a number of cases has been in the United States where total confirmed cases reached 49,594 on Tuesday with 622 related deaths. The US added 5,860 cases and 69 deaths in 24 hours. 

Spain, another European nation affected by the pandemic, also saw a dramatic rise in the number of deaths on Tuesday. With 489 casualties in 24 hours, it has recorded 2800 deaths from the virus. The number of cases reached 39,676 on Tuesday as it added 4,540 new cases. 

The number of deaths in Iran crossed 1900-mark. The Johns Hopkins University database put the number of deaths in Iran at 1,934 with the total number of confirmed cases at 24,811. 

In India, the number of cases jumped to 536 with 10 deaths. The government on Tuesday imposed a nationwide complete lockdown from 21-days with only essential personnel allowed to come out of their homes.