Washington, March 28 : The total number of global coronavirus cases has increased to 601,478, while the death toll stood at 27,862, the latest update by the Washington-based John Hopkins University revealed on Saturday. Besides the cases and deaths, a total of 131,826 people have recovered from the disease, Xinhua news agency quoted the update maintained by the varsity's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) as saying. In terms of cases, the US recorded the highest number of cases at 104,837, followed by Italy 86,498 and China 81,948, the update revealed. Italy has recorded the highest number of fatalities with 9,134 deaths, followed by Spain and China, at 5,138 and 3,299, respectively. Although the pandemic originated in China last December, now other countries have surpassed it both in terms of infection numbers and fatalities. /IANS