Global Covid caseload tops 281.3 million; China, Singapore, Thailand, US see surge in cases

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 281.3 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.40 million and vaccinations to over 8.97 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

While China reported 200 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, with 162 domestic transmissions, the largest daily increase in almost 20 months, as per the Global Times, the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 281,368,071 and 5,406,197, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 8,972,162,735.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 52,785,766 and 818,370, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (34,793,333 infections and 479,997 deaths), followed by Brazil (22,249,466 infections and 618,815 deaths).

Thailand's Ministry of Public Health has issued a nationwide level 3 warning after 514 cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 have been detected. Singapore reported 280 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total tally in the country to 278,044.

The other countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (12,277,814), Russia (10,236,301), Turkey (9,335,193), France (9,251,021), Germany (7,028,398), Iran (6,186,729), Spain (5,932,626), Italy (5,678,112), Argentina (5,480,305) and Colombia (5,127,971), the CSSE figures showed.

The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Russia (299,077), Mexico (298,777), Peru (202,524), the UK (148,470), Indonesia (144,063), Italy (136,753), Iran (131,434), Colombia (129,798), France (123,883), Argentina (117,066) and Germany (110,542).

(With inputs from IANS)