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Confirmed Covid-19 cases surpass 43 million

October 26, 2020 00:00:00


Confirmed coronavirus infections continued to soar in many parts of the US and Europe. In some cases, so did anger over the restrictions governments put in place to try to stem the tide, report agencies.

In USA Oklahoma, Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan were among states announcing new record highs in daily confirmed cases Saturday, a day after a nationwide daily record of more than 83,000 reported infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The number of confirmed cases globally surpassed 43.06 million on Sunday, according to data by Worlometers.

Till now 1,156,260 deaths have been reported so far, according to the data.

The United States has witnessed the highest numbers in deaths due to Covid-19 as the country's total death toll counted 224,771 followed by Brazil, India, Mexico and the UK.

The US has registered 8,571,943 cases till date.

Besides, India, which has been counted as the second worst-hit country in number of cases, has recorded 7,814,682 cases as of Sunday morning, according to the data.

The South Asian country has recorded 117,956 deaths so far.

Brazil is the second country in the world in number of deaths from Covid-19, behind the United States, and third in number of cases, behind the United States and India.

The country reported another 432 deaths from the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 156,903, the government announced on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Health, 26,979 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,380,635.

The state of Sao Paulo, the most populated in the country, has also been the most affected, with 1,089,255 cases and 38,726 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 298,823 cases and 20,171 deaths.

Since early September, the country has seen a decline in the number of cases and deaths. According to the latest figures, the average number of deaths from the virus in the last week fell to 471 per day, the lowest average since May 7.

Russia registered 16,521 Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, slightly down from the record high of 17,340 a day earlier, the country's Covid-19 response center said on Saturday.

Russia's cumulative number of coronavirus cases has grown to 1,497,167, including 25,821 deaths and 1,130,818 recoveries, the center said in a statement.

German authorities reported a record one-day total of new coronavirus cases this weekend while leaders in Spain and Italy debated how to control the resurgent virus amid public pushback to curfews despite a global death toll topping 1.1 million people.

Italy on Sunday ordered bars and restaurants to close by 6 p.m. and shut public gyms, cinemas and swimming pools to try to halt a rapid resurgence in the coronavirus that has pushed daily infection rates to new records.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the measures were aimed at protecting both public health and the economy and should allow the rising curve of the epidemic to be brought under control in the next few weeks.

"We think that we will suffer a bit this month but by gritting our teeth with these restrictions, we'll be able to breathe again in December," he told a news conference.

Report from Amsterdam adds: The number of coronavirus infections in the Netherlands jumped by more than 10,000 in 24 hours, hitting a new record, data released by the National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) on Sunday showed.

The RIVM reported 10,203 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, it will be known before the end of the year whether or not there is a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, the US's top infectious disease specialist has said.

Dr Anthony Fauci predicted such knowledge could arrive by the end of November or beginning of December.

However, he warned there would not be enough doses to vaccinate everyone before 2021.

His comments come amid reports plans are being made for frontline health staff in the UK to receive a Covid-19 vaccine within weeks.

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Dr Fauci was asked if US President Donald Trump's claims that a Covid-19 vaccine, while not a guarantee, will be coming by the end of the year were true.

Dr Fauci replied: "We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December.


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