Washington: The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 180 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.90 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 180,346,611 and 3,907,269, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 33,603,077 and 603,526, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 30,134,445 cases.
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (18,322,760), France (5,828,266), Turkey (5,398,878), Russia (5,346,005), the UK (4,716,065), Argentina (4,374,587), Italy (4,256,451), Colombia (4,374,587), Spain (3,782,463), Germany (3,733,665) and Iran (3,150,949), the CSSE figures showed.
In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 511,142 fatalities. Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (393,310), Mexico (232,346), Peru (191,073), Russia (129,869), the UK (128,330), Italy (127,418), France (111,101) and Colombia (103,321).
Meanwhile, Australia’s New South Wales state reported 29 locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Saturday, with the authorities signalling more restrictions may be imposed on the partially locked Sydney as exposure sites increased.
Saturday’s data includes 17 infections in the country’s most populous state that were already announced on Friday, taking the number of infections linked to the Bondi outbreak to 80. Australia has been more highly successful in managing the pandemic than many other advanced economies through swift border closures, social distancing rules and a high community compliance with them, reporting just over 30,400 cases and 910 COVID-19 deaths.
But the country has struggled significantly with the vaccination rollout and small outbreaks continue. On Friday, the government granted a provisional approval for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, potentially expanding its supply options. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would hold an emergency government meeting with health authorities later on Saturday.
“The situation is worsening beyond what we would have liked to have seen this morning, and the reason for that is that the new exposure sites are outside of those areas of concern we had highlighted,’ Berejiklian told a news briefing. ‘There is concern that some of those cases may have been exposed for a number of days without the person knowing they had the virus, and that where our concern is. And that’s what we will be looking at in the next few hours.”