Global Covid-19 cases top 57.5 million

Confirmed COVID-19 cases have surpassed 57.5 million globally with over 1.3 million fatalities on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, reports UNB.
According to the data compiled by JHU, the death toll from Covid-19 shot up to 1,372,182 while the total caseload reached at 57, 564,083 as of Saturday.
The US, which is the worst affected country, has reported 11,910, 858 cases with 254,413 fatalities as of Saturday morning, the data showed.
The surging coronavirus is taking an increasingly dire toll across the U.S. just as a vaccine appears close at hand, with the country now averaging over 1,300 COVID-19 deaths per day - the highest level since the calamitous spring in and around New York City, reports AP.
The overall U.S. death toll has reached about 254,000, by far the most in the world. Confirmed infections have eclipsed more than 11.8 million, after the biggest one-day gain on record Thursday - almost 188,000. And the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 hit another all-time high at more than 80,000.
India's COVID-19 tally reached 9,050,597 on Saturday even as 46,232 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the health ministry.
According to the data, the death toll mounted to 132,726 as 564 more patients died since Friday morning.
There are still 439,747 active cases in the country, while 8,478,124 people have been discharged from hospitals after medical treatment, added the ministry's latest data.
The federal government's focus has been on ramping up COVID-19 testing facilities across the country. Till Friday, a total of 130,657,808 tests were conducted, out of which 1,066,022 tests were conducted on Friday alone, said the figures released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the COVID vaccine Covaxin, which is being developed by India's biotechnology company Bharat Biotech International Limited, entered the third phase of trial on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi convened a meeting on Friday to review the country's vaccine strategy.
He discussed crucial issues such as prioritization of sub-populations and tech platform for rolling out the vaccine once it is finally developed and tested.
The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported 1,639 new confirmed cases, bringing the total tally to 415,067.
The DOH said that 305 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 375,237. The death toll rose to 8,025 after 27 more patients died from the coronavirus epidemic.
Malaysia reported 958 new infections, the health ministry said, bringing the national total to 52,638.
Three more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 329.
South Korea reported 363 more cases, raising the total number of infections to 30,017.
Of the new cases, 127 were Seoul residents and 62 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Forty-three were imported, lifting the combined figure to 4,355.
Three more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 501. The total fatality rate stood at 1.67 per cent.