Coronavirus pandemic update March 27: Global death toll nears 21,000
Globally, 462,684 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20,834 deaths have been recorded so far, the WHO said in its daily situation report.
March 27, 2020 / 08:54 AM IST
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said over 20,800 people had died due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Forbes, on the other hand, reported that nearly 23,000 people had died.
Globally, 462,684 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 20,834 deaths have been recorded so far, the WHO said in its daily situation report.
The report cited data from national governments as of 10 am Central European Time (CET) on March 26.
Since the organisation's previous update, three new countries/territories/areas have reported their first cases of the novel coronavirus.
Out of these, two were in the African Region and one in the Region of the Americas.
"The United Nations launched a $2 billion COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan to support the world’s most vulnerable countries," the WHO added.
In India, the number of confirmed cases is approaching 700, with 16 deaths reported so far, according to the health ministry's latest figures.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates
India is in a nationwide lockdown till April 14, an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
"We call on all countries who have introduced so-called “lockdown” measures to use this time to attack the virus," WHO Director General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on March 25.