Coronavirus global cases breach 80 lakh-mark; fatalities at 4.38 lakh

The United States has been the worst-hit country with 1,16,567 coronavirus fatalities.

File Photo (Reuters)

The coronavirus infections around the world by Wednesday (June 17) breached the 80 lakh-mark, while the number of people succumbing to the virus in the world has surged to 4.38 lakh.

According to the Johns Hopkins University's COVID-19 data at 12:20 AM on Wednesday, there were 80,85,932 coronavirus confirmed cases and 4,38,399 people have died of the virus.

The number of recoveries increased to 39,17,055, that leaves 41,68,877 people struggling with the virus that was first recorded in December 2019 at a seafood market in Wuhan, capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei (China). 

Although, according to reports, the United Kingdowm (UK) is continuing medical trials to see if it can combine other drugs with a steroid treatment shown to reduce deaths among few COVID-19 patients. 

"This is the start of something important. It shows it is possible to reduce the inflammation and the outcome in patients with lung disease in hospital, and it`s the start of other drugs which might be added on top of it to make an even bigger effect," the Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance was quoted saying on Tuesday by Reuters.

Meanwhile, China on Tuesday has put certain restrictions on people leaving Beijing in an effort to stop the spread of the most serious coronavirus flare-up since February.

The decision to impose fresh curbs and raise the city`s emergency response level back to II from III came as the national capital's current outbreak rose to 106 infections since the last week. China has witnessed 84,378 cases so far.

The United States (US) has been the worst-hit country around the world with 21.24 lakh cases.

The World Health Organization (WHO) regional director Carissa Etienne in a virtual briefing from Washington-based Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said COVID-19 has hit the region`s migrants particularly hard.

"There should be stepped up testing in the US-Mexico border area due to unconfirmed reports of increasing numbers of people infected with the virus in the United States arriving there to travel to Mexico, PAHO recommended," Reuters quoted her saying.

The US is followed by Brazil that has a total of 8.88 lakh coronavirus infections.

The PAHO recommends that Brazil and other countries in the region continue strengthening social distancing and urged reopening of the economy be done slowly and carefully.

The PAHO Communicable Diseases director Marcos Espinal said,"The epidemic has still not passed its peak in Latin America and mitigation measures should continue."

On the third spot is Russia, that has reported 5.44 lakh cases to date, while India on the fourth position has 3.43 lakh coronavirus cases. India has been one of the worst-hit countries in the world from the past few weeks.

The UK on the fifth spot has registered 2.99 lakh cases.

Spain (2.44 lakh), Italy (2.37 lakh), Peru (2.32 lakh), France (1.94 lakh) and Iran (1.92 lakh) are the other severely hit countries amongst 188 countries/regions that have been affected around the globe.

Most COVID-19 deaths in the world:

The US tops this list with 1,16,567 coronavirus fatalities.

Brazil being the second worst-hit country has recorded 43,959 casualties. The COVID-19 deaths are on a rise in Brazil, even as the President Jair Bolsonaro government is encouraging the resumption of economic activities.

The UK is on the third position with 42,054 deaths followed by Italy where 34,405 people have succumbed to the fatal virus.

France (29,439), Spain (27,136) and Mexico (17,580) are the other worst affected places across the world.