Global Covid caseload tops 258.6 mn

Washington, Nov 24 (IANS) The global coronavirus caseload has topped 258.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.16 million and vaccinations to over 7.44 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Wednesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number number of vaccine doses administered stood at 258,695,154, 5,165,134 and 7,448,434,896, respectively.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 47,980,076 and 773,738, according to the CSSE.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,526,480 infections and 466,147 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,030,182 infections and 613,066 deaths).

The other worst countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (9,985,529), Russia (9,238,330), Turkey (8,598,380), France (7,553,513), Iran (6,088,009), Germany (5,472,957), Argentina (5,317,633), Spain (5,103,315) and Colombia (5,052,733), the CSSE figures showed.

Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (292,524), Russia (261,526), Peru (200,894), the UK (144,579), Indonesia (143,753), Italy (133,330), Iran (129,177), Colombia (128,188), France (119,605) and Argentina (116,415).