More than 500,000 people have now died with coronavirus worldwide

There are more than 10,000,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide (Picture: Getty)

More than 500,000 people have now died with coronavirus across the world.

The global death toll currently stands at 501,893, while there are more than 10,000,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.

About one in four of deaths, more than 125,000, have occurred in the US, while Brazil has the second-highest death toll – more than 57,000 fatalities.

The UK follows with the official death toll currently standing at 43,550 after 36 more people were reported to have lost their lives on Sunday.

The tragic milestone comes as some countries scale back reopenings after seeing spikes in cases.

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California governor Gavin Newsom has rolled back the reopenings of bars in seven counties, just two weeks after they welcomed customers back in.

Similar decisions were made by Republican governors in Texas and Florida in an attempt to stop the rising infection rate.

The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said the pandemic had taken ‘a very swift and very dangerous turn’ in the state. 

A nurse places a blanket over a patient who has just been admitted to the emergency room at Regional Medical Center on May 21, 2020 in San Jose, California (Picture: Getty Images)

Relatives of a deceased person wearing protective masks mourn during a mass burial of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic victims at the Parque Taruma cemetery on May 19, 2020 in Manaus, Brazil (Picture: Getty Images)

Staff of Guardian Funerals transport the casket of Covid-19 victim Dennis Clapham, aged 62, to Nab Wood Crematorium on May 26, 2020 in Shipley, West Yorkshire (Picture: Getty Images Europe)

Social distancing advice on a sign in Leicester, as the city’s spike in coronavirus cases has sparked a report that it may be the first UK location to be subjected to a district lockdown (Picture: PA)

Meanwhile, South Africa health minister Zwelini Mkhize has warned the country has witnessed a surge in cases from people who ‘moved back into the workplace’.

He said: ‘It was therefore inevitable that there would be cluster outbreaks as infections spilled over from communities into places of congregation such as mines, factories, taxis and buses.’

England is set to reopen pubs and restaurants on July 4 – but ministers are already said to be discussing the country’s first local lockdown.

Priti Patel confirmed yesterday that Leicester could be the first place to return to full lockdown restrictions after it was revealed 658 new cases were recorded in the area in the two weeks to June 16.

However, Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth has played down this prospect, saying Ms Patel may have ‘got slightly in a muddle or inadvertently misled viewers’.

He told Radio 4: Yes, we have a spike in infections here in Leicester, yes we have to respond to that with extra testing capacity and extra support for the local authority, but nobody is proposing a local lockdown in the way that appears to have been presented in the media. Matt Hancock and I were at one with that.’

The mayor of Leicester has also said more Covid-19 testing data is needed before implementing a lockdown.

Sir Peter Soulsby said the information was ‘key to determining what intervention is needed’ to respond to a recent surge in Covid-19 cases.

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