The global coronavirus caseload has topped 222.4 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.59 million with Iran, Thailand and the Philippines reporting higher numbers on Wednesday. The overall vaccinations soared to over 5.56 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 222,476,971, 4,594,805 and 5,563,333,291, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 40,451,429 and 652,647 respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in second place with 33,096,718 cases. India witnessed a spike of 14 per cent in the daily new cases on Thursday as the country recorded 43,263 new infections in the last 24 hours.
Iran reports 26,854 new cases
Iran's health ministry on Wednesday reported 26,854 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 5,210,978. The pandemic has so far claimed 112,430 lives in the country, after 538 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, said the update by Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education.
A total of 4,453,651 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 7,534 remain in intensive care units, according to the ministry. By Wednesday, 20,558,038 people have received at least a dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the country, while 10,892,656 have taken two doses, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Thailand sees slight rise
Thailand on Wednesday reported 14,176 new Covid-19 cases and 228 additional fatalities, according to the country's Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA). The number of new cases rose slightly from the previous days to over 14,000, nearly 6,000 of which were reported in Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces, reports said.
Meanwhile, 90 percent of the new deaths recorded were among senior patients aged over 60 years and patients with underlying diseases. CCSA also indicated that 16,769 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals on Tuesday after making a full recovery, over 2,500 more than the number of new infections.
Since the beginning of the pandemic early last year, there have been 1,322,519 Covid-19 cases and 13,511 cumulative deaths. The vaccination drive continues to speed up in the country, with a total of 37.4 million Covid-19 vaccines having been administered between February 28 to September 7.
Philippines reports 12,751 new Covid cases
The Philippines reported 12,751 new Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, bringing the Southeast Asian country's confirmed cases to 2,134,005. The Department of Health (DOH) also reported 174 Covid-19 related deaths, raising the country's death toll to 34,672, Xinhua news agency reported.
The DOH said five laboratories failed to submit data. The DOH blamed Wednesday's low caseload on "technical issues encountered in the extraction of data" on the previous day. "We can expect higher numbers in the next few days as we resolve the issue," it added.
On September 6, the DOH reported the highest ever daily tally, with 22,415 cases. The Philippines, with a population of 110 million, has tested over 18 million people since the outbreak in January 2020.
Other countries
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (20,928,008), the UK (7,127,593), Russia (6,964,595), France (6,944,797), Turkey (6,566,538), Argentina (5,215,332), Iran (5,210,978), Colombia (4,923,256), Spain (4,898,258), Italy (4,585,423), Indonesia (4,147,365), Germany (4,039,667) and Mexico (3,449,295), the CSSE figures showed.
In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 584,421 fatalities.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (441,411), Mexico (264,541), Peru (198,568), Russia (186,224), Indonesia (137,782), the UK (133,999), Italy (129,707), Colombia (125,431), France (115,846), Argentina (112,962) and Iran (112,430).
