The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 2,473,085 with the global confirmed cases reaching 111,697,446 as of 9:00 am BJT on Tuesday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

A memorial service for people who lost lives to COVID-19 is held in New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, Jan. 19, 2021. (Photo by Lan Wei/Xinhua)

Current status (data as of 9:00 am BJT, Feb. 23):

The United States reached the grim milestone of half a million coronavirus deaths on Monday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The number of COVID-19 active cases in India continues to rise for the past five days, as the total tally crossed the 11-million mark, reaching 11,005,850 on Monday.

Another 10,641 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,126,150, according to official figures released Monday.

France on Monday registered 333 new deaths caused by the coronavirus, and the number of hospitalized patients also increased further, official figures showed.

Turkey on Monday confirmed 8,104 new COVID-19 cases, including 623 symptomatic patients, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 2,646,526.

China will provide COVID-19 vaccine aid to 19 more African countries, and China's international cooperation on vaccines aims to make its jab a global public good, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.