Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 345.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.58 million, according to Johns Hopkins University, as Brazil reported more than 160,000 daily cases for the third consecutive day.
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 345,813,395 and 5,583,886, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,764,354,039.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 70,209,352 and 864,553, according to the CSSE.
The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (38,566,027 infections and 488,396 deaths), followed by Brazil (23,766,499 infections and 622,875 deaths).
Brazil reports over 160,000 new cases for 3rd straight day
In the last 24 hours, Brazil reported more than 160,000 new Covid-19 cases for a third consecutive day, the National Council of Health Secretaries said.
The new infections has increased Brazil's overall caseload as of Saturday morning to 23,766,499, the third highest after the US and India.
In the same time, the country registered 358 fatalities, taking the national death toll to 622,875, the second largest after the US.
Brazil registered a mortality rate of 296.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants on Friday, while the incidence rate reached 11,302.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, Xinhua news agency quoted the Council as saying.
The spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant has led to an increase in cases and deaths in Brazil, although mass vaccination in the South American country had considerably reduced the figures in recent months.
According to official data, 162.6 million people in Brazil, or 75.7 per cent of the country's population, have received at least one dose of a vaccine, and 148.1 million of them have been fully vaccinated.
Cases in other countries
The other countries with over 5 million Covid-19 cases are France (16,116,748), the UK (15,814,535), Turkey (10,808,770), Russia (10,804,032), Italy (9,603,856), Spain (8,975,458), Germany (8,536,345), Argentina (7,694,506) Iran (6,241,843) and Colombia (5,686,065), the CSSE figures showed.
The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Russia (318,200), Mexico (302,390), Peru (203,868), the UK (154,000), Indonesia (144,201), Italy (142,963), Iran (132,172), Colombia (131,824), France (129,338), Argentina (118,969), Germany (116,555), Ukraine (105,545) and Poland (103,626).
