Global Covid caseload tops 269 mn; Surge seen in Singapore, Ukraine

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 269 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.29 million and vaccinations to over 8.37 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 and the death toll stood at 269,110,185 and 5,294,933, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 8,372,664,881.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 49,833,432 and 796,749, according to the CSSE.

The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,674,643 infections and 474,479 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,177,059 infections and 616,457 deaths).

Singapore reports 454 new cases

Singapore reported 454 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, bringing the total tally in the country to 272,433.

Of the new cases, 436 were in the community, four were in migrant worker dormitories and 14 were imported cases, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statistics released by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

A total of 637 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 40 cases being critically ill and intubated in the intensive care unit (ICU). The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 50.7 per cent.

Four more patients have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 783, the ministry said.

Ukraine's death toll tops 90,000

A total of 442 more people have died from Covid-19 in Ukraine, bringing the country's death toll to 90,343, the Health Ministry has said on Friday. Meanwhile the country has registered 11,327 new Covid-19 cases, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

So far, some 45.2 per cent of Ukrainian adults have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccines, while 39.4 per cent have been fully vaccinated, it said. Ukraine, which has a population of some 42 million people, has recorded more than 3.5 million Covid-19 cases during the pandemic.

Other Countries

The other countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (10,780,388), Russia (9,782,723), Turkey (9,004,938), France (8,210,151), Germany (6,463,850), Iran (6,150,843), Argentina (5,354,440), Spain (5,290,273), Italy (5,185,270) and Colombia (5,089,695), the CSSE figures showed.

The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Mexico (296,188), Russia (281,571), Peru (201,527), the UK (146,712), Indonesia (143,923), Italy (134,669), Iran (130,603), Colombia (129,011), France (121,156), Argentina (116,748) and Germany (105,202).