The number of confirmed coronavirus infections worldwide has topped 615,000 with new cases stacking up quickly in Europe and the United States and officials digging in for a long fight against the pandemic.

The latest landmark on Saturday came only two days after the world passed a half- million infections in a tally by John Hopkins University .

That showed how much work remains to be done to slow the spread of the virus.

While the U.S. leads the world in reported infections with more than 104,000, five countries exceed the roughly 1,700 U.S. deaths: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France.