Interactive: How did we get to five million coronavirus cases?

More than five million people have now been infected by the new coronavirus worldwide.

The landmark figure was reached on Thursday, almost five months after the first reported case in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December.

More than 328,000 people have also died of COVID-19, the highly contagious disease caused by the new coronavirus, while nearly 1.9 million have recovered, data collated by the Johns Hopkins University showed.

The United States, Russia and Brazil have emerged as the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases.

Europe, where France reported the continent’s first case on January 24, continues to see a rise in infections, but at a slower daily rate than its peak in March. 

Cases in China have dwindled, with the country reporting its lowest number of new coronavirus patients since January.

Iran, the first country in the Middle East to confirm the presence of the coronavirus on February 19, remains the worst hit in the region. 

There is no standardised global measurement for testing. Test units vary significantly across countries. If countries with low confirmed cases are not sufficiently testing or sharing their data, they may have many more undiagnosed cases.

Confirmed cases are the number of people who have tested positive. It is vital to note that the coronavirus numbers being reported are not facts but the best we have.

No single dataset exactly represents the reality on the ground. Every day, thousands of healthcare workers, government agencies and researchers are each collecting, processing and sharing what they know about the virus.

The goal is to gather the most reliable data that can help people understand the outbreak as it evolves.