By Mohammed Yahya Ahmad Mohammed and Halime Afra Aksoy
BAGHDAD (AA) - Iraq confirmed 70 new deaths from the novel coronavirus Monday, bringing its death toll to 8,625.
The Health Ministry said as many as 3,821 additional COVID-19 cases raised the tally to 322,856, while the number of recoveries reached 258,075.
The pandemic has claimed more than 961,600 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December. The US, Brazil, Russia and India are currently the worst-hit countries.
More than 31.12 million cases have been reported worldwide, while more than 21.28 million patients have recovered, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University.
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz