More than 240,000 people have died of the new coronavirus worldwide with over 85 per cent of the deaths in Europe and the United States, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

There have been 240,231 deaths out of 3,371,435 global cases since the virus emerged in China in December. Europe is the worst-hit continent accounting for 141,475 deaths out of 1,516,635 cases.

The United States has the highest number of deaths at 65,173, followed by Italy (28,236), Britain (28,131), Spain (25,100) and France (24,594).