The global coronavirus caseload has topped 507.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.21 million and vaccinations to over 11.21 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 507,885,835 and 6,211,633, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered increased to 11,214,955,416.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 80,850,913 and 990,679, respectively, according to the CSSE. India accounts for the second highest caseload at 43,049,974.
However, deaths of 10 Covid-19 patients in Shanghai are sounding alarm bells in Chinese city, which has relatively low vaccination rate among the provincial-level regions in the Chinese mainland, media reports said.
For China at large, it is also a strong reminder that the insufficient vaccination rate among the elderly is a towering obstacle to the country's move to ease Covid restrictions, said epidemiologists, Global Times reported.
Shanghai reported seven new deaths on Tuesday, aged 60 to 101 years. The deceased were all unvaccinated, and the direct cause of death was their underlying conditions, said Wu Qianyu, an official from Shanghai's health authority.
On Friday, government officials in Shanghai said that only 62 per cent of the city's 3.6 million elderly -- aged 60 years and above -- are fully vaccinated, and the rate among those aged above 80 years is only 15 per cent. The rate of those getting booster shots accounts for merely 38 per cent.
The other countries with over 10 million cases are Brazil (30,330,629) France (28,266,009), Germany (24,006,254), the UK (22,082,374), Russia (17,846,818), South Korea (16,755,055), Italy (15,934,437), Turkey (15,010,718), Spain (11,736,893) and Vietnam (10,533,164).
The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Brazil (662,751), India (522,062), Russia (366,845), Mexico (324,033), Peru (212,704), the UK (173,659), Italy (162,264), Indonesia (155,937), France (145,836), Iran (140,919), Colombia (139,759), Germany (133,921), Argentina (128,344), Poland (115,899), Spain (103,721) and South Africa (100,276).
