Washington, Jan 4 (UNI) The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world has surpassed 85 million, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Over 1.8 million people have died, and almost 48 million have recovered.

The World Health Organization, in turn, reported late on Sunday that the global COVID-19 tally had topped 83 million, with 740,221 new infections recorded in the past 24 hours.

As many as 1,831,412 people have died from COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, the global health agency said.

Over 12,500 fatalities have been registered only in the past day.

UNI XC AVK 0729