Washington: The total number of global COVID-19 cases has increased to over 54.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1,325,750, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Tuesday morning, the total positive tally and death toll stood at 54,826,773 and 1,325,752, respectively, revealed the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) in its latest update.
According to the CSSE, the US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 11,197,791 and 247,142, respectively.
In terms of cases India comes in second place with 8,845,127, cases while the country's death toll soared to 165,798.
The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (5,863,093), France (2,041,293), Russia (1,932,711), Spain (1,496,864), the UK (1,394,299), Argentina (1,318,384), Italy (1,205,881), Colombia (1,205,217) and Mexico (1,006,522), the CSSE figures showed.
Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 165,798 .
The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (98,542), the UK (52,240), Italy (45,733), France (45,122), Iran (41,979), Spain (41,253), Argentina (35,727), Peru (35,231), Colombia (34,223), Russia (33,184) and South Africa (20,314).
Chinese mainland reports 15 new imported Covid-19 cases
The Chinese mainland reported 15 new imported Covid-19 cases Monday, bringing the total number of imported cases to 3,716, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
Of the new imported cases, six were reported in Sichuan, four in Shanghai, three in Guangdong, and one each in Tianjin and Shandong, the commission said in its daily report.
Among all the imported cases, 3,382 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery while 334 remained hospitalized, the Xinhua news agency reported.
No deaths had been reported from the imported cases.
Four Iranian companies start human trials for Covid-19 vaccine
Iran's Health Minister Saeed Namaki said on Monday that four Iranian companies have started human trials of Covid-19 vaccine, media reported.
The Iranian companies are among the global institutions which are currently in the advanced stages of vaccine production, Namaki was quoted as saying.
Namaki also said that amid the new global surge of the epidemic, Iran tries to control the disease by carrying out more than 1,00,000 laboratory tests per day, the Xinhua news agency reported.
(With IANS Inputs)