Global COVID-19 Cases Top 56.8 Million, Death Toll Over 1.35 Million

Washington: The total number of global COVID-19 Cases has crossed 56.8 million, while deaths have surged to more than 1.35 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 56,817,667 and 1,358,489, respectively, in its latest update on Friday morning.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 11,710,084 and 252,484, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 8,958,483, while the country's death toll soared to 131,578.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (5,981,767), France (2,137,096), Russia (1,998,966), Spain (1,541,574), the UK (1,456,940), Argentina (1,349,434), Italy (1,308,528), Colombia (1,225,490) and Mexico (1,015,071), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 168,061.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (99,528), the UK (53,870), Italy (47,870), France (47,201), Iran (43,417), Spain (42,291), Argentina (36,532), Peru (35,317), Colombia (34,761), Russia (34,525) and South Africa (20,671).

Argentina plans to vaccinate 10 mn against Covid by Feb

Argentina's government is planning to vaccinate 10 million people, nearly a quarter of the population, against Covid-19 in the first two months of 2021, President Alberto Fernandez said.

"Argentina has a vaccination capacity of approximately 5 million people per month, with which we could vaccinate 10 million between January and February, giving priority to healthcare, security and elderly people with prevalent diseases," state news agency Telam cited Fernandez as saying in an interview with local radio station FutuRock.

Fernandez said he will head the vaccination chain of command, which will involve the ministries of health, interior, security and defence, Xinhua reported.

"It is not an easy task due to the infrastructure required by vaccines," Fernandez said.

"We would be vaccinating something like 23 per cent of the population, and that would allow us to enter a very tranquil March, for what could be a second wave," added Fernandez.

The South American country registered its first case of Covid-19 on March 3 and registered 1,339,337 cases of infection and 36,347 deaths from the disease as of Wednesday.

22,609 new Covid cases take Germany's tally to 855,916

Germany has recorded 22,609 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the country to 855,916, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said.

The increase is slightly above the previous week's level.

Germany is currently in the second half of a month-long partial coronavirus lockdown, Xinhua news agency reported.

The situation is "still serious, very serious," said RKI President Lothar Wieler at a press conference on Thursday. The case numbers are "still very high overall, much too high."

"The case numbers have stabilized at a high level in the last two weeks," said Wieler.

"But we do not know whether this is already a trend reversal."

The number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Germany increased by 251 on Thursday to a total of 13,370, according to the RKI.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care increased to 3,561 by Wednesday, the RKI said. During the first wave of COVID-19, the peak was around 2,900 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, according to the DIVI online registry for intensive care beds.

Some hospitals in the country could reach capacity limits soon and patients could no longer receive optimal care, Wieler said.

(With IANS Inputs)