Students from Hesston Middle School enter a makeshift classroom at the Cross Winds Convention Center in Hesston, Kan., Friday. In ordinary times, the airy convention center on a 61-acre site in Hesston, Kan., hosts weddings, corporate retreats and church events. During the pandemic, it has become a schoolhouse for the district's seventh and eighth-grade students.

WASHINGTON — There have now been more than 50 million confirmed coronavirus infections around the world, according to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University.

The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic has climbed to 1.25 million, according to data posted by the Baltimore university on Sunday.

On Saturday alone, the total number of infections rose by more than half a million, the university's online tracker showed.

Health officials around the world have noted a rapid rise in infections as temperatures in many parts drop, especially in the northern hemisphere, notably Europe and North America.

In the U.S., almost 130,000 new infections were reported for Saturday, while much of Europe has responded to surging infection rates with renewed restrictions.

At least 50.1 million infections were reported around the world by Sunday, according to the university, while the World Health Organization counted 49.6 million infections and 1.25 million deaths.

With 9.9 million cases, the U.S. has the highest number of confirmed infections.