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Washington: The overall number of global coronavirus cases was nearing the 5.7 million mark, while the deaths have increased to more than 355,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Thursday morning, the total number of cases stood at 5,690,951, while the death toll increased to 355,615, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
The US has also reached a grim milestone of over 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Currently, the country has 1,699,126 confirmed cases and 100,418 deaths, both tallies account for the highest in the world, according to the CSSE.
New York, the country's worst-hit state in the pandemic, reported 364,965 cases and 29,370 deaths. New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Illinois each reported over 5,000 deaths, the CSSE data showed.
Meanwhile in terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 411,821 infections.
This was followed by Russia (370,680), the UK (268,619), Spain (236,259), Italy (231,139), France (183,038), Germany (181,524), Turkey (159,797), India (158,086), Iran (141,591), and Peru (135,905), the CSSE figures showed.
Regarding fatalities, the UK continues in the second position after the US with 37,542 COVID-19 deaths, the highest fatalities in Europe.
The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (33,072), France (28,599), Spain (27,117), and Brazil (25,598).
COVID-19 2nd wave in US not inevitable: Fauci
A second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US "could happen" but it was "not inevitable", America's top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said.
The US can prevent another wave of COVID-19 as long as states reopen "correctly", Xinhua news agency quoted Fauci as saying in a CNN interview on Wednesday.
"Don't start leapfrogging over the recommendations of some of the guidelines because that's really tempting fate and asking for trouble."
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has previously warned that Americans need to prepare for the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall, which would run alongside the flu season.
Stay-at-home orders intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus could end up causing "irreparable damage" if imposed for too long, Fauci said last week.
"I don't want people to think that any of us feel that staying locked down for a prolonged period of time is the way to go."
Italy's COVID-19 deaths register new rise as active infections keep falling
Some 117 new fatalities due to the coronavirus were registered in Italy on Wednesday, bringing the country's death toll to 33,072, the latest data from the national Civil Protection Department showed.
It marked a visible rise compared to 78 deaths registered on Tuesday, and came after a prolonged period in which daily COVID-19 death figures showed a downward trend.
At the same time, active infections kept dropping, the Civil Protection highlighted in its bulletin, confirming a slowdown of the pandemic across the country, Xinhua reported.
Nationwide, the number of active infections has dropped by 1,976 to 50,966 cases. Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 505 are in intensive care, 16 fewer compared to Tuesday, and 7,729 are hospitalized with symptoms, a decrease of 188 patients compared to Tuesday.
The rest 42,732 people, or about 84 per cent of those who tested positive, are quarantined at home with no symptoms or only mild symptoms.
Recoveries rose by 2,443 compared to Tuesday, pushing the total recoveries to 147,101 since the pandemic broke out in the northern Lombardy region on February 21.
The overall number of COVID-19 infections, fatalities and recoveries has risen to 231,139 cases over the past 24 hours, an increase of 584 cases from the 230,555 recorded on Tuesday.
France's COVID-19 death toll up by 66 to 28,596
With 66 new deaths of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, France's death toll from the coronavirus-caused disease has risen to 28,596 as of Wednesday, according to official figures.
The number of fatalities rose by 65 to 18,260 in hospitals while the death toll in nursing homes and medico-social establishments, which was 10,335 on Tuesday, would be updated on Friday, said the Health Ministry, Xinhua reported.
As of Wednesday, 15,680 people with the COVID-19 remained hospitalized, 584 down from a day before. The number of patients in intensive care, a key gauge to evaluate the health system's ability to cope with the epidemic, fell by 54 to 1,501, confirming a downward trend for the sixth week in a row.
South Africa reports record daily increase in COVID-19 cases
South Africa has reported 1,673 COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase since the country reported its first case in early March.
As of Wednesday, the country's caseload has reached 25,937, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in his daily update, Xinhua reported.
The country also reported 28 new deaths from COVID-19, taking the national total to 552, Mkhize said.
So far, the nationwide count of recoveries stood at 13,451, he said, adding that a total of 634,996 tests have been conducted, with 29,005 tests done in the past 24 hours.
The Western Cape province remains the epicentre of the pandemic with 16,893 confirmed cases, followed by Gauteng with 3,167 cases, the Eastern Cape with 3,047 cases and KwaZulu-Natal with 2,186 cases.
Despite the rapid spread of the pandemic, the country is preparing to ease the lockdown from level four to level three, starting from June 1.
Level three will allow 8 million people to return to work with the resumption of most of the economic sector.
Also on Wednesday, the country's Ministry of Health warned that harsher lockdown restrictions could be re-introduced at COVID-19 hotspots in the country if interventions fail to contain the pandemic in these areas after June 1.
Hotspots are areas that have more than five infected people per 100,000 population, or areas where the infections are increasing at a fast pace.
Some major metropolitan municipalities such as Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Nelson Mandela Bay have been identified as hotspots.
(With Agency Inputs)
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