Coronavirus on rebound as global death toll nears 1 million
The global coronavirus death toll having neared 1 million, many countries are considering a return to lockdown in order to contain the outbreak that has steadily worsened over months amid a failure to contain new COVID-19 cases.
Global daily cases have reached record levels in recent days. The worldwide count of known COVID-19 infections shot past the 30 million mark Thursday, with more than half of these being reported in just three countries: the U.S., India, and Brazil, according to the tally kept by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. has reported more than 6.6 million cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus – the highest number in the world, accounting for 20% of cases globally. Comparatively, the U.S. makes up just 4% of the world's population. The country also stands poised to record its 200,000th coronavirus fatality.
The official number of global coronavirus cases is now more than five times the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) data. Around the world, there have been almost 1 million deaths, considered a lagging indicator given the two-week incubation period of the virus. This figure has now well exceeded the upper range of 290,000 to 650,000 annual deaths linked to influenza.
(c) Daily Sabah
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