Global coronavirus cases top 9 million as outbreak surges in Brazil, India
Global cases of the novel coronavirus surpassed nine million on Monday, as Brazil and India grappled with a surge in infections, and the United States, China, and other hard-hit countries reported new outbreaks, according to a Reuters tally.
The first case was reported in China in early January and it took until mid-May to reach 4.5 million cases. It took just five weeks to double to nine million cases, the tally showed.
The United States led the world with the highest number of infections, at about 2.2 million or 25 percent of all reported cases.
The tally showed the disease was spreading fastest in...
Global cases of the novel coronavirus surpassed nine million on Monday, as Brazil and India grappled with a surge in infections, and the United States, China, and other hard-hit countries reported new outbreaks, according to a Reuters tally.
The first case was reported in China in early January and it took until mid-May to reach 4.5 million cases. It took just five weeks to double to nine million cases, the tally showed.
The United States led the world with the highest number of infections, at about 2.2 million or 25 percent of all reported cases.
The tally showed the disease was spreading fastest in Latin America, which now accounts for 23 percent of all cases.
Brazil had the second-highest number of cases behind the United States, and India is on track to overtake Russia as the third most affected country by cases.
The number of global infections continued to rise at a rate of around one to two percent a day since the beginning of June, even as many countries were taking steps to ease lockdown measures.
On Friday, global cases rose by a record 176,000 in a day, according to the tally, when Brazil reported over 54,000 cases in a single day, the most of any country throughout the pandemic.
Global deaths stood at over 464,000 and had doubled in seven weeks.
The crisis was deepening in Brazil where the death toll reached over 50,000, widespread testing remained absent, and the country was still without a permanent health minister.
In the United States, which had about 120,000 deaths, cases rose again after declining for more than a month, and wearing a mask was not mandatory in most states.
China was also trying to contain a fresh outbreak in Beijing, where it asserted it had a capacity to test over one million people a day in the city alone.
On its best day, the United States tested over 594,000 people nationwide but often tested fewer than half a million a day.
Even in Germany, a country seen as successful in curbing the virus and limiting deaths, infection rates were rising above the level needed for long-term containment. Australia is also battling a spike of cases in Victoria where other states saw few, if any, new cases in weeks.
Still there are bright spots such as Spain reopening its borders, death rates plunging in the former hot spot of Italy, and Greece welcoming a return of foreign tourists.
Just under half of all reported cases had recovered, though the number is likely higher as some countries do not report the statistic.
- Reuters
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