COVID-19 by July 18 has claimed over 600,000 lives globally, primarily in the U.S., where the death toll stands at 142,000, IPN reports.

Almost twice fewer deaths were recorded in Brazil – 77,900. The UK reported 45,200 casualties, while Mexico and Italy 38,300 and, respectively, 35,000.

In the over 200 countries affected by the novel coronavirus, the number of infections rose to over 14.2 million.

In China, where the pandemic started, there were logged about 83,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and less than 5,000 deaths.

Moldova so far has got almost 20,500 infections with the novel coronavirus, with the death toll from COVID-19 increasing to 675.