FILE PHOTO: An employee takes the temperature of a customer at the entrance of a super market in China Town in London, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 2, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

SYDNEY: Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 3.5 million on Monday (May 4), with deaths nearing a quarter of a million, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month, a Reuters tally shows.