Global coronavirus death toll passes 90,000
There have now been 1,534,426 officially confirmed infections.
PARIS (AFP) - The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus passed 90,000 on Thursday, according to a tally compiled by AFP at 1630 GMT from official sources.
More than half of the 90,938 deaths were recorded in hard-hit Italy, Spain and the United States.
Italy has recorded the most deaths with 18,279, followed by Spain with 15,238, the United States with 14,830 and France with 10,869.
There have now been 1,534,426 officially confirmed infections.
On the other hand, the coronavirus pandemic could kill between 11,000 and 22,000 people in Canada, the government projected Thursday.
It said the country could see between 934,000 and 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 by the time the pandemic ends, assuming Canadians observe strict social distancing and other safety measures over the next few months.
These are the federal government s first projections on the pandemic s possible toll in Canada.
As of Thursday morning, Canada was reporting nearly 20,000 cases of infection with 476 deaths, according to figures provided by provincial authorities.
By April 16, the virus death toll will probably be between 500 and 700, said Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam.
"We can t prevent every death, but we must prevent every death that we can," Tam said.
"Models are not crystal balls and we cannot predict the future with them. However, they do help us to plan and they tell us that our collective actions can have a direct and significant impact on the epidemic trajectory."
The number of cases in Canada is doubling every three to five days. Health authorities have declined to say when they think the rate might peak in Canada.
Officials in Quebec, Canada s hardest hit province with nearly half of the country s cases, said the pandemic might peak there in mid-April.
For days now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been under pressure to release nationwide figures on Canada s experience with the pandemic sweeping the globe.
The four most affected provinces, which account for 94 percent of the country s cases, have done so.
Trudeau is stressing that the evolution of the virus here will depend on people staying at home and observing social distancing practices.
