Global COVID-19 Cases Surpass 38 Million, Deaths Surpass 1 Million

By Nsunjo Erica

According to the data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University, global COVID-19 cases have surpassed 38 million as deaths surpassed 1 Million.

The global number of confirmed COVID-19 cases count reached 38,006,121, with a total of 1,083,875 deaths worldwide as of 6:24 p.m. local time (2224 GMT), the CSSE data showed on Tuesday.

According to the tally, the United States is still leading in terms of cases and it has so far reported 7,850,829 and 215,775 deaths, both the highest around the world.

Second in line worldwide is India which has recorded over 7,175,880 cases as the county’s coronavirus death toll climbed to 1, 10,586.

The tally also ranks Brazil as the 3^rd country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, it has currently recorded a caseload of 5,103,408 and the second-largest death toll of 150,689.

CSSE at Johns Hopkins University said the total caseload of the top three countries combined accounted for more than half of the global cases, according to the tally.

Countries with more than 820,000 cases also include Russia, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, Peru, and Mexico, while other countries with over 36,000 deaths include India, Mexico, Britain, and Italy, according to the center.

At 36 Million cases, the other top 15 countries with the maximum amount of cases were Brazil (5,000,694), Russia (1,242,258), Colombia (877,684), Argentina (840,915), Spain (835,901), and Peru (832,929)

Next in line was Mexico (799,188), France (693,603), South Africa (685,155), the UK (546,952), Iran (483,844), Chile (474,440), Iraq (391,044), Bangladesh (373,151), and Saudi Arabia (337,711), the CSSE figures showed.

Current Update On COVID-19 Vaccine

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Covid-19 vaccine may be ready by the end of this year, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said this in his closing remarks to the global agency’s board on Tuesday last week.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for solidarity and political commitment by all leaders to ensure equal distribution of vaccines when they become available.

The comment from the WHO Chief came even as drugmakers and scientists all over the world are racing against time to develop a safe, effective vaccine against Covid-19.

According to the report, nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility that aims to distribute two million doses by the end of 2021.