The global coronavirus caseload has topped 231.1 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.73 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.04 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 231,105,748, 4,736,892 and 6,045,775,206, respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 42,852,711 and 687,078, respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in second place with 33,594,803 cases. On Saturday, India reported 29,616 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours.
Iran reports 15,294 daily Covid cases, tally over 5.5mn
Iran's Health Ministry on Friday reported 15,294 new Covid-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 5,508,885.
The pandemic has so far claimed 118,792 lives in the country, after 284 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, said the update by Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Xinhua news agency reported.
A total of 4,897,876 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 6,502 remain in intensive care units, according to the ministry.
By Friday, 34,007,380 Iranians have received their first doses of Covid-19 vaccines, while 15,093,292 have taken two doses. Iran reported its first case of Covid-19 in February 2020.
Daily Covid cases in Seoul top 1,000 for 1st time
Daily coronavirus cases in Seoul has surpassed the 1,000 mark for the first time following this week's 'Chuseok' (harvest festival) holiday, South Korean health authorities said on Saturday.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said 1,222 new Covid19 cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours, reports Yonhap News Agency.
Of them, 1,217 were local infections and five were imported cases. The number is far higher than the capital's previous record high of 907 cases announced on Friday. The city added three more deaths from Covid-19, raising the death toll to 630.
The total caseload reached 95,949 in the capital, with a population of more than 9.58 million. The surge is largely attributable to a sharp increase in the number of virus tests following the Chuseok holiday, which ran from Monday to Wednesday, officials said.
Meanwhile, new cases across the country also hit an all-time high of 3,273 on Saturday, the KDCA reported. The greater Seoul area, which also includes neighbouring Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, accounted for 77 per cent of the new infections.
Since the onset of the pandemic early last year, South Korea has registered 298,402 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 2,441.
Other Countries
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (21,327,616), the UK (7,637,308), Russia (7,269,514), France (7,075,305), Turkey (6,987,464), Iran (5,508,885), Argentina (5,248,847), Colombia (4,948,513), Spain (4,946,601), Italy (4,653,696), Indonesia (4,204,116), Germany (4,192,606) and Mexico (3,608,976), the CSSE figures showed.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (593,663), India (446,368), Mexico (274,139), Peru (199,182), Russia (198,644), Indonesia (141,258), the UK (136,336), Italy (130,603), Colombia (126,068), Iran (118,792), France (117,147) and Argentina (114,828).
