The global coronavirus caseload has topped 241.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.92 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.73 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Friday 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 242,449,033, 4,928,934 and 6,733,417,557, respectively.

SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus
COVID-19 (Representational Picture)Pixabay

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 45,294,293 and 733,064, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 34,127,450 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (21,697,341), the UK (8,681,759), Russia (8,005,376), Turkey (7,772,574), France (7,209,126), Iran (5,833,525), Argentina (5,277,525), Spain (4,995,176), Colombia (4,986,249), Italy (4,729,678), Indonesia (4,237,834), Germany (4,435,487) and Mexico (3,767,758), the CSSE figures showed.

Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (604,679), India (452,811), Mexico (285,347), Russia (223,331), Peru (199,945), Indonesia (143,120), the UK (139,562), Italy (131,724), Colombia (126,959), Iran (124,763), France (118,339) and Argentina (115,796).

Africa's Covid cases surpass 8.45 million

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Africa reached 8,450,464 as of Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said the death toll from the pandemic across the continent stands at 216,264, Xinhua news agency reported. Some 7,831,265 patients across the continent have recovered from the disease so far, according to the agency.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases in the continent, according to the agency.

In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region in the continent, according to the Africa CDC.