NEW YORK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 300,000 as of 6 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Saturday (2200 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 303,180 cases with 12,950 deaths, the CSSE said.

Outside China, the countries that reported over 10,000 cases include Italy, Spain, the United States, Germany, Iran and France. Italy suffered the most deaths from the disease, which stood at 4,825 as of Saturday afternoon, according to the CSSE.

It took around three days for the total number to jump from 200,000 to 300,000. Over 160 countries and regions have reported COVID-19 cases so far, the CSSE said.