(FILES) This file photo taken on April 29, 2020 shows an engineer taking samples of monkey kidney cells as he make tests on an experimental vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus inside the Cells Culture Room laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing. – China has mobilised its army and fast-tracked tests in the global race to find a coronavirus vaccine, and is involved in several of the dozen or so international clinical trials currently under way. (Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP) / TO GO WITH Health-virus-China-vaccines,FOCUS by Ludovic EHRET
The number of people killed by coronavirus worldwide passed 450,000 on Thursday, after the toll doubled in just a month and a half, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 1615 GMT.
A total of 450,004 people have died from the disease out of 8,395,929 cases reported across the world since COVID-19 emerged in China late last year.
Europe has been the hardest-hit continent, with 190,120 deaths from 2,469,242 infections, but the pandemic is now spreading most rapidly in Latin America, which has recorded 86,706 deaths from 1,840,488 cases.
