Global Covid caseload tops 276.2 mn

Washington, Dec 22 (IANS) The global coronavirus caseload has topped 276.2 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.36 million and vaccinations to over 8.76 billion, according to 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 and the death toll stood at 276,200,632 and 5,368,422, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 8,767,449,046.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 51,272,854 and 810,045, according to the CSSE.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,752,164 infections and 478,007 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,219,477 infections and 617,948 deaths).

The other countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (11,607,864), Russia (10,089,945), Turkey (9,211,710), France (8,818,154), Germany (6,869,505), Iran (6,175,782), Spain (5,585,054), Italy (5,436,143), Argentina (5,404,380) and Colombia (5,110,788), the CSSE figures showed.

The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (297,916), Russia (293,329), Peru (202,295), the UK (147,896), Indonesia (144,024), Italy (135,931), Iran (131,167), Colombia (129,534), France (122,931), Argentina (116,953) and Germany (109,028).