Some 1.7M people recover from COVID-19 globally

The global coronavirus recoveries surpassed the 1.7 million mark on Sunday, according to a running tally by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The university's data showed a total of 1,700,354 people won the battle against COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

The number of cases crossed 4.65 million, while 312,119 deaths were recorded.

The US has the highest number of recoveries with 268,376, followed by Germany with 152,600 and Spain with 146,446.

But the US continues to be the worst-hit country, with the highest numbers of infections and deaths -- over 1.46 million cases and over 88,754 fatalities.

The UK has the second-highest death toll with 34,546, and Russia is the second country recording the highest cases with 281,752.

China, where the virus emerged in December, has registered a total of 84,047 cases with a death toll of 4,638.

Overall, the virus has spread to 188 countries since it first emerged in China in December.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who contract the virus suffer mild symptoms before making a recovery.