Global COVID-19 cases surpass 53 million

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 53 million globally, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.

The confirmed coronavirus cases reached 5,32,84,867 with over 13,01,021 fatalities as of Saturday, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update, reports news agencies UNB and IANS.

The US has recorded 1,07,24,830 cases with 244,302 deaths so far amid a nationwide surge of infections that shows no sign of slowing.

The United States reported an all-time high of nearly 200,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, setting a new record for the fifth time in a week, data updated Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.

Brazil on Friday reported 456 deaths from COVID-19, raising the nationwide death toll to 164,737.

Meanwhile, the Latin American country registered 29,070 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the accumulated national caseload to 58,10,652.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll, following the United States, and the third most COVID-19 cases, after the United States and India.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, India’s caseload now stands at 87,28,795. The country’s death toll has mounted to 128,668.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are France (19,15,677), Russia (18,65,395), Spain (14,58,591), the UK (13,21,031), Argentina (12,96,378 ), Colombia (11,82,697) and Italy (11,07,303), the CSSE figures showed.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (97,056), the UK (51,396), Italy (44,139), France (42,600), Spain (40,769), Iran (40,582), Peru (35,067), Argentina (35,045 ), Colombia (33,669), Russia (32,156) and South Africa (20,153)

The world’s largest vaccine maker, Serum Institute of India Ltd, is ramping up production of AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, aiming to have 100 million doses ready by December for an inoculation drive that could begin across India that same month.

Daily COVID-19 infections in Bangladesh have shown a rising trend this month, with 1,767 new cases and 19 deaths reported until early Friday.

Fatalities in the country reached 6,159 and the death rate stood at 1.44 per cent. Also, total confirmed cases rose to 428,965, the Directorate General of Health Services said.

And 13,539 new samples were tested in the past 24 hours. The daily infection rate stood at 13.05 per cent and the overall rate at 17.05 per cent.

However, 1,519 people recovered from the disease in that time. So far, 346,387 patients -- 80.75 per cent -- have overcome it.