Coronavirus cases in Europe cross 5,00,000: AFP

Europe: There are now more than 500,000 confirmed cases of the Covid-19 virus across Europe, according to the latest tally by the AFP news agency.

The new count comes as the death toll from the virus has topped 10,000 in Spain, with confirmed cases there surging to over 110,000. French health officials confirmed 509 deaths from the virus yesterday, taking the country's death toll to more than 4,000.

The UK also saw its biggest daily rise in coronavirus deaths this week, with 563 new fatalities reported on Wednesday. Confirmed cases of the infection have been soaring in the UK, with almost 30,000 testing positive for the virus as of April 1.

AFP reported on Wednesday that 30,000 lives have been lost to the pandemic so far in Europe, with Italy accounting for more than a third of that number.

The world has witnessed a "near-exponential" growth in the number of new cases over the past five weeks, said World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed infections soared towards one million worldwide.