Online Desk:
The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 246 million amid the global race to vaccinate masses against the infectious disease.
According to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the total case count mounted to
245,988,998 while the death tally from the virus reached 4,988,563 Saturday morning.
The US has recorded 45,923,803 cases to date and more than 745,375 people have died so far from the virus in the country, as per the university data.
Brazil, which has been experiencing a new wave of cases since January, have registered 21,793,401 cases so far, while its Covid death toll rose to 607,504.
India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 34,259,719 on Thursday, as 14,189 new cases were registered in 24 hours across the country, according to the federal health ministry.
Besides, 552 deaths due to the pandemic since Thursday morning took the total death toll to 457,773.
However, Europe stood out as the only major region worldwide to report an increase in both coronavirus cases and deaths over the past week, the UN health agency said.
The World Health Organization said new Covid-19 cases in its 53-country European region, which stretches as far east as the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, recorded an 18% increase in corona cases over the last week — a fourth straight weekly increase for the area, reports AP.
In WHO’s weekly epidemiological report on Covid-19, Europe also saw a 14% increase in virus-related deaths. That amounted to more than 1.6 million new cases and over 21,000 new deaths.
Meanwhile, Russia is reporting an increasing number of coronavirus infections and Covid deaths as the country approaches a week of non-working days aimed at stemming the surge in cases.
Russia has reported 39,849 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 8,342,546, the official monitoring and response center said on Thursday. The nationwide death toll grew by 1,163, the highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic, to 236,220.
