WHO says global COVID-19 tally at 7.2 million; US remains country with most cases

According to the latest figures by the World Health Organisation (WHO), global COVID-19 cases stand at 72,73,958, with over 4,13,000 people to have died from the disease. The UN health agency said in its situation report published on Thursday night that 1,28,419 new cases had been recorded in the past day, while 5,347 patients were reported to have died.

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India surpasses UK's COVID-19 tally

The report said that the United States continues to lead the count with over 3.48 million cases, followed by Europe with 2.33 million. The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday surpassed the United Kingdom (UK) to become the fourth most affected country in the world with COVID-19 infection. With close to three lakh cases, India is now only behind the United States of America (USA), Brazil and Russia, according to the data provided by Worldometer.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data, the countries that have seen community transmission of the virus infection include the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

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Many of these countries have lower case count than India, but figure among the nations having witnessed ''community transmission'' -- a term typically used when a clear-cut contact tracing cannot be established for a large number of confirmed cases of infection.

For India, the transmission classification used by the WHO is ''cluster of cases'', which it describes as a stage where a country experiences cases "clustered in time, geographic location and/or by common exposures". At a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, the government officials said India is definitely not in the community transmission stage of the pandemic.

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(With agency inputs)