More than 12 million cases of the new coronavirus have been recorded in Europe, according to a tally compiled by AFP from health authority figures at 1600 GMT Friday.

The region of 52 countries is the hardest-hit zone in the world in terms of infections, ahead of Latin American and the Caribbean with 11.5 million cases and Asia with 10.9 million.

Almost half of the 12 million cases in Europe are in four countries: Russia with 1,733,440, followed by France (1,601,367), Spain (1,306,316) and the United Kingdom(1,123,197).