The global coronavirus caseload has topped 215 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.48 million and vaccinations soared to over 5.12 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 215,357,973, 4,484,434 and 5,123,427,298, respectively.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 38,700,164 and 636,667, respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in second place with 32,603,188 cases.

covid 19

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (20,703,906), France (6,778,133), Russia (6,747,681), the UK (6,697,770), Turkey (6,311,607), Argentina (5,167,733), Colombia (4,901,163), Iran (4,869,414), Spain (4,831,809), Italy (4,517,434), Indonesia (4,056,354), Germany (3,925,190) and Mexico (3,291,761), the CSSE figures showed.

In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 578,326 fatalities. Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (436,861), Mexico (256,287), Peru (198,031), Russia (176,904), the UK (132,566), Indonesia (130,781), Italy (129,002), Colombia (124,648), France (114,291), Argentina (111,270) and Iran (105,287).

UK records another 38,046 Covid cases

Another 38,046 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 6,666,399, according to official figures released on Friday.

The country also reported another 100 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 132,243. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the latest figures showed that infections were higher in the week leading up to August 20 than in the corresponding week of the second wave.

Around one in 70 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to August 20, up from one in 80 in the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Covid vaccine
Representational ImagePixabay

"Cooler autumn weather, leading to increased indoor social mixing, is likely to drive further increases in the coming weeks. The end of summer holidays and return of people to work and education, without clear guidance on physical measures to avoid transmission such as mask wearing or social distancing, is also likely to push up infection rates," said Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in University of Reading.

More than 88 per cent of people aged 16 and over in Britain have had their first dose of vaccine and about 78 per cent have received both doses, the latest figures showed.

Russia adds 19,509 Covid cases in a day

Russia registered 19,509 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 6,844,049, the official monitoring and response centre said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the nationwide death toll grew by 798 to 180,041, and the number of recoveries increased by 19,217 to 6,112,035, Xinhua news agency reported.

During the same period, Moscow reported 1,509 new cases, taking the city's total to 1,562,010. According to media reports, more than 35.8 million Russians have been fully vaccinated so far.