The race for a Covid vaccine is reaching a crucial stage, with the glimmer of a possibility that one of the leading contenders will be approved by Christmas, report agencies.
The number of global coronavirus crossed 46 million on Sunday, according to data compiled by Worldometers.com.
The total caseload stood at 46,510,347 with 1,202,070 fatalities.
The US is the worst-hit country with 9,116,186 cases and 230,345 deaths, according to the data.
The United States reported nearly 100,000 Covid-19 cases on Friday, setting the highest single-day number of cases recorded around the world.
India comes in second place in terms of cases (8,137,119), while the country's death toll soared to 121,641.
Brazil currently ranks second in terms of Covid-19 deaths, behind the United States, and third in the number of cases, after the US and India.
Brazil registered 508 deaths in the last 24 hours from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 159,884, the Ministry of Health said Saturday.
Meanwhile, 22,282 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded, bringing the total to 5,535,605.
Besides, 21,915 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,011,660, according to official figures released Saturday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a four-week nationwide lockdown as the numbers kept soaring.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove says it is his "fervent hope" that England's new lockdown will end on 2 December - but that ministers will be "guided by the facts".
"We do need to get the R rate below 1," the Cabinet Office minister told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
The strict measures are due to come into force from Thursday.
Pubs, restaurants, gyms, non-essential shops and places of worship will close, but schools, colleges and universities can stay open.
The prime minister is expected to deliver a statement in the Commons on Monday before a vote on the latest restrictions on Wednesday. Labour has said it will back the lockdown.
Meanwhile, in another development, within weeks, the first results to show whether one of the vaccines actually works will emerge. With a vaccine hailed as the world's best hope of halting the deaths and the social and economic destruction wreaked by the Covid pandemic, the world is holding its breath.
It could be Oxford University, partnered with drug company AstraZeneca. It could be Moderna in the US. Or it could be Pfizer and the German company BioNTech.
All three have either recruited the last of the tens of thousands of volunteers they need for the critical final trials or will shortly do so.
And sometime in November or December, their independent monitoring boards will "unblind" their secret data to find out whether fewer people given the experimental vaccines are getting Covid-19.
In an interview with the Guardian, Kate Bingham, who heads the UK's vaccine taskforce, said the UK was in "a very good place".
But there are still hurdles to clear in the coming weeks. The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, explains the challenges ahead
Another report adds: AstraZeneca Plc said on Sunday Britain's health regulator had started an accelerated review of its potential coronavirus vaccine.
"We confirm the MHRA's (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) rolling review of our potential COVID-19 vaccine," an AstraZeneca spokesman said.
In rolling reviews, regulators are able to see clinical data in real time and have dialogue with drug makers on manufacturing processes and trials to accelerate the approval process.
The approach is designed to speed up evaluations of promising drugs or vaccines during a public health emergency.
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