Latest on pandemic: Global caseload over 6.89mn, death toll at nearly 400K

The number of people with COVID-19 has now passed 6.89 million around the world, and the number of related fatalities is almost 400,000, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The disease, which first emerged in China in December last year, has so far afflicted 6,896,179 people and killed 399,784 others.

Approximately three million people have recovered from COVID-19, which is caused by a new coronavirus.

About 30 percent — or two million — of all cases have been recorded in the United States, the worst-affected country in the world.

Latin America has cumulatively reported over 15 percent of the global infections.

Brazil, with a stark caseload and fatality rate, is second only to the US. It has now threatened to pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), as the US has.

The viral outbreak, which has relatively been brought under control in some of the worst-hit European countries, including Italy and Spain, still continues to spread quickly in some parts of Eastern Europe, according to the WHO.

Meanwhile, South Asia is becoming a new hotspot of the coronavirus, as India and Indonesia both record their largest single-day jumps in new cases of the infectious disease.

The following is the latest on the pandemic from around the globe:

Brazil removes data amid rising death toll

Brazil has removed months of data on its coronavirus outbreak from a government website, as the country’s death toll passed 35,000 on Saturday.

Brazil has more than 640,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The Brazilian Health Ministry said it would not be reporting total figures of fatalities and cases — as most countries do — anymore and would only be providing daily figures.

Late on Saturday, the ministry reported 27,075 new confirmed cases and 1,005 related deaths.

This comes amid rising pressure on far-right President Jair Bolsonaro over his handling of the health crisis.

Bolsonaro threatened to leave the WHO over what he called “ideological” bias — echoing US President Donald Trump.

Trump accuses WHO of becoming 'puppet' organization of China

Donald Trump has said that he is severing US ties with the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We don’t need foreign people having a say in our health here,” Bolsonaro said.

The Brazilian president, who has played down the dangers of the virus, has replaced medical experts in the Health Ministry with military officials and opposed state lockdowns to contain the outbreak.

Mexico reports almost 3,600 new cases

Mexico reported 3,593 new cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, taking the country’s total tally to 113,619.

Authorities also reported 341 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to about 13,511.

Peru overtakes France in COVID-19 cases

Peru’s Health Ministry reported 4,358 new cases on Saturday, taking the total tally in the country to 191,758 and overtaking France in terms of caseload.

The country has reported 5,162 deaths.

China reports 6 new cases, no additional deaths

China reported six new cases on Sunday, three more than the previous day.

Five of the new cases involved travelers arriving from abroad, according to the National Health Commission (NHC). The other one case, locally transmitted, was found in the southern island province of Hainan.

China has so far reported a total of 83,036 cases and 4,634 deaths.

China’s science and technology minister said on Sunday that the country would increase international cooperation if it succeeded in developing a vaccine for the new coronavirus.

China would make a vaccine a “global public good” when it is ready, said Minister Wang Zhigang.

South Korea reports 57 new cases

South Korea on Sunday reported 57 new cases of the disease, marking a second day in a row that its daily jump was above 50.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the country’s total at 11,776 cases, with 273 deaths.

India’s caseload surpasses Spain’s, peak yet to come

India recorded 10,521 cases on Saturday, taking its total tally to 246,454.

The death toll from the virus stands at 6,946 across India.

The country, with a population of 1.3 billion, now ranks the fifth in terms of known cases of the coronavirus in the world.

The peak of the outbreak will arrive in two or three months, according to the Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Randeep Guleria.

Pakistan overtakes China in known cases

Pakistan reported 97 deaths from the disease on Saturday, pushing the country’s total to 2,002.

The country has also overtaken China in terms of confirmed cases, as the number of people with COVID-19 topped 98,943.

Malaysia set to reopen economy

Malaysia has moved to reopen almost all economic activity next week, as Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said his government had “successfully” brought the outbreak under control.

“Health ministry statistics showed that the rate of infection amongst local residents is lowering and under control,” Yassin said.

The total number of infections was 8,303, with a total death toll of 117 as of Saturday.

Philippines reports 555 new cases, 9 deaths

The Philippines reported nine additional deaths, taking its death toll to 1,003, on Sunday.

The country also recorded 555 more cases of infection, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to 21,895, according to the Department of Health.
Germany reports over 300 new cases

Germany on Sunday reported 301 new cases of the viral infection, taking the country’s total to 183,979, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

The reported death toll rose by 22 to 8,668.

France reports 31 new deaths

France, with the fifth-highest death toll in the world, reported a relatively slow rise in fatalities on Saturday, as the number of people in intensive care also continued to fall, according to government data.

The number of deaths increased by 31 to reach 29,142, the data showed. That compared with 46 deaths reported on Friday.

The number of confirmed cases of the viral infection also rose by 579 to 153,634.

The head of a COVID-19 scientific committee said on Friday that the outbreak was under control.

Russia reports 134 new deaths

In Russia, 8,948 new cases of infection and 134 related deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.

The figures pushed the country’s total tallies to 467,673 cases and 5,859 deaths.

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