Slowing death rates provide some hope for future, as number of confirmed cases around the world exceeds 1.8 million reports Aljazeera.

The death rate in Italy, France and New York - some of the places worst affected by the coronavirus - appear to be slowing, as the number of people confirmed to have the disease across the world rose beyond 1.8 million.

Globally, more than 114,000 people have died from the new coronavirus while nearly 422,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Italy's Civil Protection Agency reported the lowest number of coronavirus deaths since March 19, with 431 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, compared with 619 the previous day.

France reported 315 deaths in hospital over the last day, compared with 345 the day before.