BEIJING, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

NEW YORK -- The United States reached the grim milestone of half a million coronavirus deaths on Monday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

With the national case count topping 28.1 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 500,071 as of 4:24 p.m. local time (2124 GMT), according to the CSSE data.

- - - -

QUITO -- Ecuador on Monday reported detecting 295 new cases of COVID-19 infection in the previous 24 hours, bringing its total caseload to 274,968 since the first case was detected on Feb. 29, 2020.

According to the Ministry of Public Health, in the same period, 11 more patients died from the disease, raising the confirmed death toll to 10,807. This is in addition to another 4,740 deaths that were likely caused by the disease.

- - - -

BRUSSELS -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on European parliaments to strive for a global COVID-19 vaccination plan to ensure equal access to vaccines around the world.

Addressing the virtual European Semester Conference, the inter-parliamentary conference on economic stability, Guterres said it was "not only unfair but also dangerous" that just ten countries account for 75 percent of global vaccinations to date.

- - - -

SANTIAGO -- Chile surpassed 800,000 cases of COVID-19 infection, after registering 3,547 new cases in the last 24 hours, for a total of 803,009 infections, the Ministry of Health said on Monday.

In addition, 84 deaths were recorded in the same period, bringing the total number to 20,126, according to the ministry.

- - - -

TUNIS -- Tunisian Health Ministry on Monday reported 575 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 228,937.

The death toll from the virus rose by 18 to 7,811, the ministry said in a statement.

- - - -

PARIS -- France on Monday registered 333 new deaths caused by the coronavirus, and the number of hospitalized patients also increased further, official figures showed.

The COVID-19-related death toll now stands at 84,613 in the country. This is the seventh highest toll in the world after the United States, Brazil, Mexico, India, Britain and Italy.

- - - -

ULAN BATOR -- Mongolia on Monday night received 300,000 doses of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China.

The vaccine donation was welcomed at the Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Mongolia's capital city of Ulan Bator by Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan and Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Chai Wenrui.