Global coronavirus cases surpass 10 million, death toll nears 500,000

Coronavirus cases across the globe surpassed the sombre landmark of 10 million on June 28 with deaths related to COVID-19 approaching the mark of 500,000, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The United States, Brazil, and Russia are the worst-hit countries while India reporting a sharp rise in the coronavirus cases.

The United States has reported over 2.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, more than one-fourth of the total cases reported worldwide, and over 125,000 deaths related to it so far. The number of coronavirus cases in Brazil has skyrocketed following gross neglect for COVID-19 measures by President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 57,000 people have lost their lives in the Latin American nation.

While Russia and India hold the third and fourth position in the coronavirus cases respectively, the fatalities in the UK, Italy, and France have been way above. Britain has registered more than 43,000 deaths so far, with Italy and France with almost 35,000 and 30,000 deaths, as the rate of infection continues to increase.

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'Still spreading fast'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently warned of a "new and dangerous phase" of the pandemic. During a media briefing, the WHO Director-General said that the pandemic still poses a major threat even countries are eager to open up their societies and economies. 

“But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly & most people are still susceptible," said the top WHO official.

On June 26, Ghebreyesus said that a global initiative to speed up the development and production of COVID-19 tests, vaccines and treatments will require more than $30 billion over the next year. The potentially deadly virus has been spreading rapidly across the globe and has infected over 9.5 million people. The WHO chief believes that the access to Tools Accelerator will end the pandemic faster by ensuring that the tools developed are allocated rationally and equitably around the world.

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