As of May 2, 2023, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had spread to almost every country in the world, and more than 6.86 million people had died after contracting the respiratory virus. Over 1.16 million of these deaths occurred in the United States.

Waves of infections Almost every country and territory worldwide have been affected by the COVID-19 disease. At the end of 2021 the virus was once again circulating at very high rates, even in countries with relatively high vaccination rates such as the United States and Germany. As rates of new infections increased, some countries in Europe, like Germany and Austria, tightened restrictions once again, specifically targeting those who were not yet vaccinated. However, by spring 2022, rates of new infections had decreased in many countries and restrictions were once again lifted.

What are the symptoms of the virus? It can take up to 14 days for symptoms of the illness to start being noticed. The most commonly reported symptoms are a fever and a dry cough, leading to shortness of breath. The early symptoms are similar to other common viruses such as the common cold and flu. These illnesses spread more during cold months, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that temperature impacts the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Medical advice should be sought if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.

As of April 26, 2023, the number of both confirmed and presumptive positive cases of the COVID-19 disease reported in the United States had reached over 104 million with over 1.1 million deaths reported among these cases.

Coronavirus deaths by age in the U.S. Daily new cases of COVID-19 hit record highs in the United States at the beginning of 2022. Underlying health conditions can worsen cases of coronavirus, and case fatality rates among confirmed COVID-19 patients increase with age. The highest number of deaths from COVID-19 have been among those aged 85 years and older, with this age group accounting for over 300 thousand deaths.

Where has this coronavirus come from? Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses transmitted between animals and people that cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. The novel coronavirus that is currently infecting humans was already circulating among certain animal species. The first human case of this new coronavirus strain was reported in China at the end of December 2019. The coronavirus was named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and its associated disease is known as COVID-19.

As of March 10, 2023, there have been 1.1 million deaths related to COVID-19 in the United States. There have been 101,159 deaths in the state of California, more than any other state in the country – California is also the state with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

The vaccine rollout in the U.S. Since the start of the pandemic, the world has eagerly awaited the arrival of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. In the United States, the immunization campaign started in mid-December 2020 following the approval of a vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. As of March 22, 2023, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the U.S. had reached roughly 673 million. The states with the highest number of vaccines administered are California, Texas, and New York.

Vaccines achieved due to work of research groups Chinese authorities initially shared the genetic sequence to the novel coronavirus in January 2020, allowing research groups to start studying how it invades human cells. The surface of the virus is covered with spike proteins, which enable it to bind to human cells. Once attached, the virus can enter the cells and start to make people ill. These spikes were of particular interest to vaccine manufacturers because they hold the key to preventing viral entry.

Between the beginning of January 2020 and June 14, 2023, of the 1,134,641 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the United States, around 307,169 had occurred among those aged 85 years and older. This statistic shows the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths in the U.S. from January 2020 to June 2023, by age.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of March 10, 2023, the death rate from COVID-19 in the state of New York was 397 per 100,000 people. New York is one of the states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

In 2020, there were a total of 384,536 deaths in the United States caused by COVID-19. Those aged 85 years and older accounted for 122,707 COVID deaths that year. This statistic shows the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the United States in 2020, 2021, and 2022, by age.

The seven-day average number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. decreased significantly from April to July 2020, but it remained higher than in other countries. Seven-day rolling averages are used to adjust for administrative delays in the reporting of deaths by authorities, commonly over weekends.

The challenges of tracking and reporting the disease The U.S. confirmed its first coronavirus case in mid-January 2020 – the virus was detected in a passenger who arrived in Seattle from China. Since that first case, around 945 people have died every day from COVID-19 in the United States as of August 23, 2020. In total, the U.S. has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country worldwide. Accurately tracking the number of COVID-19 deaths has proved complicated, with countries having different rules for what deaths to include in their official figures. Some nations have even changed which deaths they can attribute to the disease during the pandemic.

Young people urged to act responsibly Between January and May 2020, case fatality rates among COVID-19 patients in the United States increased with age, highlighting the particular risks faced by the elderly. However, COVID-19 is not only a disease that affects older adults. Surges in the number of new cases throughout July 2020 were blamed on young people. The World Health Organization has urged young people not to become complacent, reminding them to maintain social distancing guidelines and take precautions to protect themselves and others.

As of April 26, 2023, around 27 percent of total COVID-19 deaths in the United States have been among adults 85 years and older, despite this age group only accounting for two percent of the U.S. population. This statistic depicts the distribution of total COVID-19 deaths in the United States as of April 26, 2023, by age group.

As of April 13, 2024, India had the highest number of confirmed deaths due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the Asia-Pacific region, with over 533 thousand deaths. Comparatively, Indonesia, which had the second highest number of coronavirus deaths in the Asia-Pacific region, recorded approximately 162 thousand COVID-19 related deaths as of April 13, 2024. Contrastingly, Bhutan had reported 21 deaths due to COVID-19 as of April 13, 2024.

COVID-19 rate of death, or the known deaths divided by confirmed cases, was over ten percent in Yemen, the only country that has 1,000 or more cases. This according to a calculation that combines coronavirus stats on both deaths and registered cases for 221 different countries. Note that death rates are not the same as the chance of dying from an infection or the number of deaths based on an at-risk population. By April 26, 2022, the virus had infected over 510.2 million people worldwide, and led to a loss of 6.2 million. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. Note that Statista aims to also provide domestic source material for a more complete picture, and not to just look at one particular source. Examples are these statistics on the confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia or the COVID-19 cases in Italy, both of which are from domestic sources. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

A word on the flaws of numbers like this

People are right to ask whether these numbers are at all representative or not for several reasons. First, countries worldwide decide differently on who gets tested for the virus, meaning that comparing case numbers or death rates could to some extent be misleading. Germany, for example, started testing relatively early once the country’s first case was confirmed in Bavaria in January 2020, whereas Italy tests for the coronavirus postmortem. Second, not all people go to see (or can see, due to testing capacity) a doctor when they have mild symptoms. Countries like Norway and the Netherlands, for example, recommend people with non-severe symptoms to just stay at home. This means not all cases are known all the time, which could significantly alter the death rate as it is presented here. Third and finally, numbers like this change very frequently depending on how the pandemic spreads or the national healthcare capacity. It is therefore recommended to look at other (freely accessible) content that dives more into specifics, such as the coronavirus testing capacity in India or the number of hospital beds in the UK. Only with additional pieces of information can you get the full picture, something that this statistic in its current state simply cannot provide.

As of March 9, 2023, Indonesia registered 160,941 deaths from the coronavirus. This week, Indonesia is experiencing an increase in cases caused by the highly-contagious Omicron variant.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to over 183,000 deaths in Germany, as of 2024. When looking at the distribution of deaths by age, based on the figures currently available, most death occurred in the age group 80 years and older at approximately 118,938 deaths.

As of July 11, 2022, Iran accounted for the largest total number of deaths caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Eastern Mediterranean region at over 140 thousand deaths. The World Health Organization's strategic objectives as a response to the outbreak include interrupting human-to-human transmission, early identifying and isolating care for patients, identifying and reducing transmission from animal sources and addressing crucial unknowns regarding clinical severity, extent of transmission and infection, as well as treatment options.

Between the beginning of January 2020 and June 14, 2023, of 1,134,660 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the United States, around 742,587 occurred in an inpatient healthcare setting. This statistic shows the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths in the U.S. from January 2020 to June 2023, by place of death.

As of July 28, 2024, nearly 1.8 million people have died due COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The country with the highest number was Brazil, reporting around 700,000 deaths. As a result of the pandemic, Brazil's GDP was forecast to decline by approximately six percent in 2020. Meanwhile, Mexico ranked second in number of deaths, with approximately 335 thousand occurrences. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

After entering Italy, the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread fast. The strict lockdown implemented by the government during the Spring 2020 helped to slow down the outbreak. However, in the following months the country had to face four new harsh waves of contagion. As of January 1, 2025, 198,638 deaths caused by COVID-19 were reported by the authorities, of which approximately 48.7 thousand in the region of Lombardy, 20.1 thousand in the region of Emilia-Romagna, and roughly 17.6 thousand in Veneto, the regions mostly hit. The total number of cases reported in the country reached over 26.9 million. The north of the country was mostly hit, and the region with the highest number of cases was Lombardy, which registered almost 4.4 million of them. The north-eastern region of Veneto counted about 2.9 million cases. Italy's death toll was one of the most tragic in the world. In the last months, however, the country saw the end to this terrible situation: as of November 2023, 85 percent of the total Italian population was fully vaccinated. For a global overview, visit Statista's webpage exclusively dedicated to coronavirus, its development, and its impact.

As of December 16, 2022, there had been almost 6.37 million COVID-19 cases in New York State, with 2.97 million cases found in New York City. New York has been one of the U.S. states most impacted by the pandemic, recording the highest number of deaths in the country.

A closer look at the outbreak in New York Towards the middle of December 2022, the number of deaths due to the coronavirus in New York State had reached almost 60 thousand, and almost half of those deaths were in New York City. However, the number of new daily deaths in New York City peaked early in the pandemic and although there have been times when the number of new daily deaths surged, they have not gotten close to reaching the levels seen at the beginning of the pandemic. New York City is made up of five counties, which are more commonly known by their borough names – Staten Island is the borough with the highest rate of COVID-19 cases.

Russia had over 23 million COVID-19 cases as of October 22, 2023. Over the past week, that figure increased by nearly 20 thousand. Russia had the 10th-highest number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases worldwide. Debate about COVID-19 deaths in Russia The number of deaths from the disease was lower than in other countries most affected by the pandemic. Several foreign media sources, including New York Times and Financial Times, published articles suggesting that the official statistics on the COVID-19 death toll in Russia could be lowered. A narrow definition of a death from COVID-19 and a general increase in mortality in Moscow were pointed out while suggesting why actual death figures could be higher than reported. Russian explanation of lower COVID-19 deaths Experts and lawmakers from Russia provided several answers to the accusations. Among them were the fact that Russians timely reported symptoms to doctors, a high number of tests conducted, as well as a higher herd immunity of the population compared to other countries. In a letter to the New York Times, Moscow’s health department head argued that even if all the additional death cases in the Russian capital in April 2020 were categorized as caused by the COVID-19, the city’s mortality rate from the disease would still be lower than in cities like New York or London.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of January 13, 2023, there have been 2,169,191 deaths across Europe due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) since the first recorded European death on February 15, 2020. The number of deaths first started to increase significantly during March, and again in November. The week beginning January 18, 2021, was the deadliest week so far with 40,467 deaths recorded. Russia currently has the highest amount of deaths in Europe at over 394 thousand.

The worldwide number of confirmed cases of coronavirus was over 668 million as of January 9, 2023. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.