(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 1, 2020 a health professional works at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward where patients infected with the COVID-19 novel coronavirus are being treated, at the Santa Casa hospital in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. (Photo by Douglas MAGNO / AFP)

Europe has recorded more than five million coronavirus infections since the first cases appeared in China in December, according to a report by AFP from official sources on Wednesday at 1100 GMT.

A total of 5,000,421 cases have now been registered, of which more than half were in Russia (1,122,241 infections, 19,799 deaths), followed by Spain (682,267/30,904), France (502,541/31,416) and the United Kingdom (403,551/41,825). Europe has recorded 227,130 deaths.

More than 380,000 new cases have been reported in the past week, the highest number in the region since the start of the pandemic.

The rise in infections can be partly explained by the sharp increase in testing in countries including France, where more than a million tests are now carried out every week. Despite the increase, many less serious or asymptomatic cases probably remain undetected.

AFP