KATHMANDU: More than 16.1 million people have been infected with the coronavirus pandemic throughout the globe.

A total of 258,202 new cases were reported throughout the globe in a single day as of Sunday morning. With this, total cases have reached 10 6,189,616 worldwide. Out of them, 9.9 million (61.19 percent) have recovered so far while others are undergoing treatment.

The number of deaths worldwide in the last 24 hours is 5,711 that took the number of deaths to 647,596.
Coronavirus has killed 201,263 people in European countries. European countries had witnessed 2.76 million cases and 1.66 million have recovered so far.

A total of 206,880 people have died in North American countries. The number of infections has reached 5.5 million. Of them, 2.51 million have been declared infection-free.

Similarly, 88,676 people have died in Asian countries. Out of 3.82 million people infected, 2.76 million have recovered and at least 132,980 people have died in South American countries. Of the 3.69 million infected, 2.45 million have recovered.

In African countries, 17,563 people have died as 832,380 have been infected. Out of the infected, 487,267 have won their fight against coronavirus.

At least 167 people have been killed in Oceania and Australia. Of the 15,654 people infected, 10,641 have recovered.

Meanwhile, North Korea has for the first time acknowledged a suspected case of COVID-19 within its borders, after a defector suspected of having the virus returned from South Korea earlier this month.

“An emergency event happened in Kaesong City where a runaway who went to the south three years ago, a person who is suspected to have been infected with the vicious virus, returned on July 19 after illegally crossing the demarcation line,” state news agency KCNA said

Until now, Pyongyang had insisted that not a single infection had breached the country’s borders, which remain closed, media reports said.

Following the news of the possible infection, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting, declared a state of emergency, and imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong.