Washington: The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 59.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.40 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
The University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 59,679,996 and 1,407,873, respectively, in its latest update on Wednesday.
The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 12,589,229 and 259,881, respectively, according to the CSSE.
India comes in second place in terms of cases at 9,177,840, while the country's death toll soared to 134,699.
The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (6,087,608), France (2,206,126), Russia (2,120,836), Spain (1,594,844), the UK (1,542,611), Italy (1,455,022), Argentina (1,381,795), Colombia (1,262,494) and Mexico (1,060,152), the CSSE figures showed.
Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 170,115.
The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (102,739), the UK (55,935), Italy (51,306), France (50,324), Iran (45,738), Spain (43,668), Argentina (37,432), Russia (36,675), Peru (35,641), Colombia (35,677) and South Africa (21,083).
Child Covid-19 cases in US approach 1.2 million
Nearly 1.2 million children in the US have been diagnosed with Covid-19 since the onset of the pandemic, according to the latest data of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children's Hospital Association.
A total of 1,44,145 new child Covid-19 cases were reported the past week from November 12 to 19, a 28 per cent increase in child Covid-19 cases in the country, according to the AAP.
The number of new child Covid-19 cases is by far the highest weekly increase since the pandemic began, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Children now account for more than 11 per cent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the US.
The overall rate was 1,573 cases per 1,00,000 children in the population, according to the AAP report.
Children accounted for 1.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent of total reported hospitalisations, and 0 to 0.23 per cent of all Covid-19 deaths, said the report.
"At this time, it appears that severe illness due to Covid-19 is rare among children. However, there is an urgent need to collect more data on longer-term impacts of the pandemic on children, including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects," the AAP said in the report.
(With IANS Inputs)