Global COVID-19 cases surpass 226.8 mln, death toll tops 4.66 mln: WHO

The cumulative total of global COVID-19 cases increased to more than 226.8 million, with the death toll exceeding 4.66 million as of Friday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

There had been 226,844,344 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 4,666,334 deaths as of Friday, the WHO’s COVID-19 dashboard revealed.

A total of 5,634,533,040 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide as of Tuesday, the WHO reported.

The cumulative total of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States neared 42 million as of Friday, with the death toll surpassing 672,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

Specifically, the country’s case count rose to 41,942,199 on Friday, the CSSE tally showed.

The United States continues to lead the world in the numbers of both confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Another 32,651 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 7,371,301, according to official figures released on Friday.

The country also recorded another 178 coronavirus-related deaths as the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 134,983.

These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, Germany’s federal disease control agency, said in its latest report released on Friday that the country registered 11,022 new infections and 20 new deaths within 24 hours.

A total of 4,125,878 COVID-19 infections have been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic, with the death toll climbing to 92,857 as of Friday, said the RKI.

Russia registered 19,905 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 7,234,425 infections, the official monitoring and response center said on Friday.

The nationwide death toll grew by 791 to 196,626 fatalities while the number of recoveries increased by 16,619 to 6,469,017.

Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Friday that the situation with the coronavirus in the country is stable but remains tense.

India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 33,417,390 on Saturday, as 35,662 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, the federal health ministry’s latest data showed.

An additional 281 deaths were also recorded since Friday morning, taking the death toll to 444,529.

Most of the new cases and deaths were reported from the southern state of Kerala.

Currently, there are 340,639 active cases in the country with an increase of 1,583 during the period.

The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported 23,134 new COVID-19 infections on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,347,550.

The DOH also reported 255 coronavirus-related deaths, raising the country’s death toll to 36,583.

Vietnam reported 11,521 new COVID-19 cases and 212 deaths on Friday, according to the country’s Ministry of Health.

The new infections brought the country’s total tally to 667,650, with 16,637 deaths, the ministry said.

Most of the community cases were detected in southern localities, including 5,972 in the epicenter Ho Chi Minh City, 4,013 in the nearby Binh Duong province and 345 in Dong Nai province.