Global cases of COVID-19 approaching 45 million: JHU

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is approaching 45 million globally as the world has recorded 44,945,080 cases as of Friday morning, according to the latest data of John Hopkins University (JHU).

A total of 1,180,317 fatalities have been recorded globally, according to the data while more than 30 million people have recovered from the virus.

The US has registered over 228,647 deaths and almost nine million infections – by far the highest in the world on both counts.

The country also recorded 78,981 new cases with 994 fatalities as of Friday, according to the JHU data.

The United States hit a record high average daily COVID-19 cases of over 74,000 on Wednesday, setting a new high since the onset of the pandemic in the country, according to the data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated on Thursday.

The CDC has reported 81,599 new cases on Wednesday, the third time the number hit over 80,000 over the past week, the CDC data showed.

The 7-day average daily cases in the country have been on a rise since early September, surpassing 60,000 since 22 October. The country is adding an average of 74,532 new COVID-19 cases to the national total as of Thursday.

Altogether 41 states are reporting at least 10 per cent more cases compared to the week before, according to CNN report.

As daily new cases skyrocket, hospitalisations are rising, too, and deaths, which lag furthest behind those other indicators, are ticking up.

Daily death count hit nearly 1,060 on Wednesday, with an average count at about 800 per day, CDC data showed.

Currently there are 45,000 hospitalised COVID-19 cases nationwide, according to latest figure of The COVID-19 Tracking Project.

Besides, Brazil's COVID-19 cases reached 5,494,376 after 28,629 new cases were reported, the country's Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 510 more deaths were registered, bringing the national death toll related to the virus to 158,969.

In India, the country has reported 49,881 new coronavirus cases, continuing a downward trend in infections even as the country’s caseload has crossed 8 million and is only behind the US.

The health ministry also reported 517 new fatalities, raising the overall death toll to 120,527 on Friday, according to the JHU data.

The slowdown in the pandemic in India has now lasted more than a month and the country has reported fewer than 60,000 cases for nearly two weeks.

Bangladesh on Friday reported 1,604 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the total caseload to 406,364.

Meanwhile, 19 more patients died from COVID-19, taking the fatalities to 5,905.

So far, 322,703 patients (79.41 per cent) have recovered -- 1,422 in the last 24 hours.

The fatality rate in Bangladesh is 1.45 per cent, the Directorate General of Health Services said.

Bangladesh reported its first cases on 8 March. The number of cases reached the 300,000-mark on 26 August. The first death was reported on 18 March and the death toll exceeded 5,000 on 22 September.