Global Covid-19 Cases Breach 101 Million Mark

Washington: The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 101 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.18 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 101,381,964 and 2,188,566, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 25,739,405 and 432,864, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 10,701,193, while the country's death toll soared to 153,847.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (9,058,687), the UK (3,754,448), Russia (3,752,548), France (3,166,145), Spain (2,705,001), Italy (2,515,507), Turkey (2,457,118), Germany (2,194,562), Colombia (2,067,575), Argentina (1,905,524), Mexico (1,806,849), Poland (1,496,665), South Africa (1,437,798), Iran (1,398,841), Ukraine (1,247,674), Peru (1,113,970) and Indonesia (1,113,970), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 221,547.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (153,639), the UK (103,324), Italy (87,381), France (74,601), Russia (70,533), Spain (57,806), Iran (57,736), Germany (55,450), Colombia (52,913), Argentina (47,601), South Africa (43,105), Peru (40,272), Poland (36,443), Indonesia (29,331), Turkey (25,605), Ukraine (23,469) and Belgium (20,933).

France reports another 23,770 coronavirus cases, 348 deaths

France's Public Health Agency said that it has registered 23,770 new Covid-19 infections and 348 deaths in hospital.

The country has to date recorded a total of 3,130,629 COVID-19 cases and 74,800 deaths related to the disease, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

The Ministry of Health also said that 1,349,517 injections had been carried out since the start of the vaccination campaign, including 117,734 in 24 hours.

The regions of Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France and Bourgogne-Franche-Comte said Thursday that the appointments for a first injection of the vaccine against COVID-19 would be postponed due to difficulties of supply of Pfizer doses.

With its gradual vaccination, France is racing to counter a resurgence in Covid-19 infections fuelled by more infectious variants, although many fear that doses shortfall and delivery delay may throw a spanner into the government's vaccination rollout.

The government is considering to impose additional measures in the coming days to halt the alarming surge in the new variants.

(IANS)