The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 170,368 on Tuesday, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that more than 2,483,840 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December.

Of these cases, at least 558,400 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections.

In the United States, now the worst-hit country, the death toll stood at 42,364 with 787,901 infections. At least 72,858 patients have recovered.

Italy is the next most affected country in terms of deaths with 24,114 fatalities and 181,228 confirmed infections.