Coronavirus spread increasingly driven by people in 20s, 30s, 40s, says WHO

The spread of the coronavirus is being increasingly driven by people aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s and many are not aware that they have been infected, the World Health Organisation's regional director for the Western Pacific said on Tuesday, August 18.

"This increases the risk of spillovers to the more vulnerable: the elderly, the sick people in long-term care, people who live in densely populated areas and underserved areas," Takeshi Kasai told a virtual briefing.

Global Covid cases top 21.8 million

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 21.8 million, while the deaths have increased to over 772,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Tuesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 21,814,597 and the fatalities rose to 772,782, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 5,437,969 and 170,491, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in second place with 3,359,570 infections and 108,536 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (2,647,663), and is followed by Russia (925,558), South Africa (589,886), Peru (535,946), Mexico (525,733), Colombia (468,332), Chile (387,502), Spain (359,082), Iran (345,450), the UK (321,060), Saudi Arabia (299,914), Argentina (299,126), Pakistan (289,215), Bangladesh (279,144), France (256,533), Italy (254,235), Turkey (250,542), Germany (226,700), Iraq (180,133), Philippines (180,133), Indonesia (141,370), Canada (124,218), Qatar (115,368), Kazakhstan (103,033), Ecuador (101,751) and Bolivia (100,344), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the Mexico (57,023), India (50,921), UK (41,454), Italy (35,400), France (30,434), Spain (28,646), Peru (26,281), Iran (19,804), Russia (15,707), Colombia (15,097), South Africa (11,982) and Chile (10,513).