US coronavirus deaths have passed a quarter of a million people as New York announced it would close schools to battle a rise in infections and anti-restriction protests in Europe turned violent. 

America has now registered 250,426 fatalities, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, by far the highest reported national death toll.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,350,275 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 11:00 GMT yesterday. At least 56,234,440 cases of coronavirus have been registered.

On Wednesday, 11,013 new deaths and 582,654 new cases were recorded worldwide.  Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were the United States with 1,751 new deaths, followed by Brazil with 756 and Italy with 753.

US states and cities were imposing a raft of new restrictions, including home confinement, the closure of indoor dining and a limit on gatherings as cases soar across the country, with more than 157,950 new infections recorded over the past 24 hours on Wednesday.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city's 1,800 public schools would revert to remote learning beginning Thursday after the Big Apple recorded a seven-day average positivity rate of three percent.

Europe meanwhile remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for 46 percent of new global cases and 49 percent of deaths last week, according to WHO .

In Russia, total coronavirus caseload surpassed two million.  The country has witnessed a surge in cases over recent weeks but authorities have stopped short of reintroducing stringent lockdown measures like several European countries.

Health officials reported 23,610 new infections yesterday and 463 virus-related deaths, both record highs since the beginning of Russia's outbreak.