Poonam Singh

Washington: The novel coronavirus pandemic has brought countries around the world to a standstill. Here are the latest updates on the COVID-19 crisis from around the globe on Sunday.

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed the 76 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.68 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Sunday, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 76,199,167 and 1,683,910, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 17,631,293 and 316,006, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 10,004,599, while the country's death toll soared to 145,136.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (7,213,155), Russia (2,792,615), France (2,516,957), the UK (2,010,077), Turkey (2,004,285), Italy (1,938,083 ), Spain (1,797,236), Argentina (1,537,169), Colombia (1,496,062), Germany (1,494,063), Mexico (1,301,546), Poland (1,194,110) and Iran (1,152,072), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 186,356.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (117,249), Italy (68,447), the UK (67,177), France (60,534), Iran (53,448), Russia (49,744), Spain (48,926), Argentina (41,763), Colombia (40,268), Peru (36,858), Germany (25,899), Poland (25,254) and South Africa (24,539).

US reports all-time high daily Covid-19 cases

In yet another grim development amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, the US reported an all-time number of single-day confirmed cases, according to health authorities.

In its latest update on Saturday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the country registered a record high 403,359 new cases and 2,756 deaths, reports Xinhua news agency.

As of Sunday morning, the US still accounts for world's highest number of cases and deaths at 17,631,293 and 316,006, respectively.

Saturday's data brought the seven-day average daily case increase to a record-high of 238,923 cases, and the seven-day average daily death increase to over 2,500.

There are a record 114,751 people currently hospitalised with the virus, according to latest data of The Covid Tracking Project.

"Seventeen days into December, this month is already the second deadliest of the pandemic," the project said on Twitter.

Over 42,500 coronavirus deaths has been reported across the nation in December so far, according to the project.

The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a key Covid-19 model, projects the national daily death toll to continue increasing to a peak of over 3,750 in mid-January.

The model projects 562,000 cumulative deaths on April 1, 2021, which represents 262,000 additional fatatlities from December 14 to April 1.

Chinese mainland reports 1 new locally transmitted Covid-19 case

China's National Health Commission said on Sunday that it received reports of 23 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Saturday, one of which was locally transmitted in Liaoning.

Twenty-two cases were imported from outside the mainland, the commission said in its daily report.

No new suspected cases or deaths related to the disease were reported on Saturday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A total of 21 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland on Saturday.

By the end of Saturday, a total of 4,115 imported cases had been reported on the mainland. Among them, 3,848 had been discharged from hospitals following recovery, and 267 remained hospitalised. No deaths had been reported among the imported cases.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland reached 86,829 by Saturday, including 309 patients still receiving treatment.

A total of 81,886 patients had been discharged from hospitals following recovery on the mainland, and 4,634 had died of the virus, according to the report.

There were four suspected Covid-19 cases on the mainland as of Saturday, and 6,596 close contacts remained under medical observation.

Canada's confirmed Covid-19 cases surpass 500,000

As of Saturday afternoon, Canada's Covid-19 cases surpassed 500,000, reaching 500,242, with 14,128 deaths, while the vaccine rollout is under way in the country, according to CTV.

The latest 100,000 cases racked up in just 15 days across the country, marking the shortest growth period since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in March, the Xinhua news agency reported.

It took six months for Canada to register its first 100,000 cases of the Covid-19, another four to reach 200,000, less than a month to hit 300,000 and 18 days to hit 400,000.

Earlier on Saturday, Ontario and Quebec, the country's two most populous provinces hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, each recorded daily case counts beyond 2,000.

It's the fifth consecutive day Ontario exceeded 2,000 new positive tests, with Saturday's count at 2,357.

Five regions in Ontario are scheduled to be in the province's lockdown stage as of Monday.

Quebec recorded 2,038 new infections and 44 new deaths related to the novel coronavirus.

At this time, there are 75,695 active cases across the country. Covid-19 is spreading among people of all ages, with high infection rates across all age groups, said the Public Health Agency of Canada on Saturday, adding that infection rates remain highest among those aged 80 years and older who are at highest risk for severe outcomes.

Turkey's total Covid-19 cases exceed 2 million-mark

Turkey on Saturday reported 22,195 Covid-19 cases, including 4,002 symptomatic patients, as the total number of positive cases in the country reached 2,004,285, its health ministry announced.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 241 to 17,851, while the total recoveries climbed to 1,779,068 after 25,516 more cases recovered in the last 24 hours, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The rate of pneumonia in Covid-19 patients stands at 2.9 per cent and the number of seriously ill patients is 5,501 in the country, said the ministry.

A total of 1,73,132 tests were conducted over the past day, with the overall number of tests in Turkey reaching 22,280,635.

Turkey reported its first Covid-19 case on March 11.

(With IANS Inputs)

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