The number of confirmed cases of people with coronavirus across the world has surpassed 424,000, almost 19,000 people have died, while more than 109,000 have recovered, according to information provided by international research groups.

Fatalities in Italy from coronavirus have surged in the last 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said on Tuesday, March 25, dashing hopes the epidemic in the world's worst-hit country was easing.

The death toll rose by 743 on Tuesday, March 24 the second-highest daily tally since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on February 21, after more encouraging numbers in the previous two days., Al Jazeera reports.

The virus has killed another 240 people in France, the top French health official said, bringing the death toll in the country from the pandemic to 1,100.

Jerome Salomon told reporters that 22,300 people had tested positive for the virus in France, with a total of 10,176 hospitalised of whom 2,516 people are in intensive care.

The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Germany has risen to 31,554 and 149 people have died of the disease, statistics from the RKI health institute showed on Wednesday.

Cases rose by 4,191 while the death toll climbed by 36, the tally showed.

South Korea reported 100 more cases of the new coronavirus over the past 24 hours, raising the country’s total to 9,137, WSOC TV reports.

The 100 additional cases were up from 76 reported a day earlier. But they still show a continued slowdown of virus cases in South Korea, compared with late last month when a daily jump of new cases once recorded more than 900.

The number of novel coronavirus cases reported in the United States rose past 50,000 on Tuesday, March 24, according to numbers compiled by John Hopkins University.

The university reported 50,206 COVID-19 cases in America as of 3:20 p.m. Tuesday. In at least 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam, 606 deaths have been reported thus far.

Spain's armed forces on Tuesday asked NATO for humanitarian assistance to fight the novel coronavirus as the national death toll touched 2,700 and infections soared towards 40,000.

With the pandemic spreading across the world, Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries, logging the third-highest number of deaths with the latest toll standing at 2,696 after another 514 people died over the past 24 hours.

Health officials in the United Kingdom announced 87 more deaths Tuesday connected to the 2019 novel coronavirus, bringing the country’s death toll to 422.

Officials said 8,077 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the country. Health officials have tested 90,436 people for the viral infection.

According to a report from CNA, Iran's Health Ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said a record 1,762 new cases have been confirmed in Iran over the past 24 hours and 24,811 people are now known to have been infected with the new coronavirus.

He announced 122 new deaths from the virus, raising the official toll to 1,934 in one of the world's worst hit countries.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that the country will go into lockdown beginning at midnight to stymie the spread of COVID-19, Reuters reported.

Health officials in the country, which has a population over 1.3 billion, have reported 519 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths, according to numbers compiled by John Hopkins University.

The number of coronavirus cases in South Africa has jumped to 709 from 554, the country's health minister Zweli Mkhize told a local news channel on Wednesday.