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Six months after pandemic declared, where are the hotspots?

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with nearly 30 million confirmed cases in 188 countries and a death toll fast approaching one million.

Six months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic, the virus is surging in many countries and some that had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks are also seeing infections rise again.

However, the number of confirmed cases during the spring peak is likely to be an underestimate of the true level of infection, as widespread testing was not available in many countries earlier in the year.

Note: The map, table and animated bar chart in this page use a different source for figures for France from that used by Johns Hopkins University, which results in a slightly lower overall total. US figures do not include Puerto Rico, Guam or the US Virgin Islands.

Where are cases and deaths rising?

Asia is the continent currently seeing the highest number of daily confirmed cases.

India now has the second largest number of confirmed cases in the world, behind the US, and on Friday recorded its highest daily figure of just under 100,000 cases.

The surge comes as the government continues to lift restrictions to try to boost the economy, but is also a reflection of increased testing - as daily tests have risen and hit more than a million per day in August.

Given the size of its population, India has a low death rate from Covid-19. But more than 1,000 deaths were recorded on Friday - the death toll has topped 1,000 every day since the beginning of September.

In Latin America, Brazil has the highest number of deaths, with about 130,000 so far. It has also recorded more than four million cases, the third highest in the world.

Newly confirmed cases in the region are also rising in Argentina, which now has more than half a million in total.

In the Middle East, Iran has been badly affected by the virus and documents leaked to the BBC Persian service suggest the death toll there is more than double the official total of about 23,000. Neighbouring Iraq has also seen a spike in cases.

Cases are also continuing to rise in Indonesia and the country has recorded nearly 9,000 deaths - the highest number in South East Asia.

Africa has recorded more than a million confirmed cases, although the true extent of the pandemic in the continent is not known. Testing rates are reported to be low, which could distort official estimates, but South Africa and Egypt have seen the largest recorded outbreaks there so far.

Coronavirus cases rising again in Europe

Several European countries are recording a rising number of daily cases amid fears of a resurgence of the virus.

Hans Kluge, the director general of the WHO's Europe office, has likened Covid-19 to a "tornado with a long tail" and warned that rising cases among young people could spread the disease to more vulnerable older people.

A number of European countries have re-imposed local lockdowns in their worst-affected regions, and there have been renewed appeals for people to wear face coverings and follow social distancing rules.

The pattern of rising infections following the end of lockdown restrictions is not limited to Europe.

Other countries that have seen a resurgence of the virus include Peru, Israel, South Korea and Australia - although following the reintroduction of tougher restrictions most of these are now seeing cases fall again.

In the table below, countries can be reordered by deaths, death rate and total cases. In the coloured bars on the right-hand side, countries in which cases have risen to more than 5,000 per day are those with black bars on the relevant date.

Cases in the US have slowed after second surge

The US has recorded more than six million cases of coronavirus, almost a quarter of the world's total. It saw an increase in the number of daily cases in July, but the numbers have fallen since then.

With nearly 200,000 deaths, the US has the world's highest death toll.

A projection from the University of Washington suggests there could be more than 400,000 deaths by the end of the year, though it says this could be reduced to 290,000 if 95% of Americans wear masks in public.

The outbreak has had a devastating impact on the US economy, with GDP falling by a record rate of 33% in the three months from April to June.

How did coronavirus spread?

The virus, which causes the respiratory infection Covid-19, was first detected in the city of Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

The outbreak spread quickly across the globe in the first months of 2020 and declared a global pandemic by the WHO on 11 March.

A pandemic is when an infectious disease is passing easily from person to person in many parts of the world at the same time.

Europe and North America saw their first major outbreaks in April but as they began to ease, Latin America and Asia started seeing cases spike.

Governments across the world have been forced to limit public movement and close businesses and venues in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. This has had a devastating impact on the global economy.

The International Monetary Fund has said the world is in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression and warned that it could take two years for economic output to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The United Nations has said that up to 265 million people could face starvation by the end of the year because of the impact of Covid-19.

Six months after pandemic declared, where are the hotspots?

• LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?
• TESTING: What tests are available?
• JOBS: How will I be kept safe at work?
• SYMPTOMS: What are they and how to guard against them?
• HOLIDAYS: Where can I go away in the UK?

About this data

The data used on this page comes from a variety of sources. It includes figures collated by Johns Hopkins University, data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, national governments and health agencies, as well as UN data on populations.

When comparing figures from different countries it is important to bear in mind that not all governments are recording coronavirus cases and deaths in the same way. This makes like for like comparisons between countries difficult.

Other factors to consider include: different population sizes, the size of a country's elderly population or whether a particular country has a large amount of its people living in densely-populated areas. In addition, countries may be in different stages of the pandemic.