The global death toll from the coronavirus surpassed 7,00,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities.

Nearly 5,900 people are dying every 24 hours from Covid-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks.That equates to 247 people per hour, or one person every 15 seconds.

President Donald Trump said the coronavirus outbreak is as under control as it can get in the United States, where more than 1,55,000 people have died amid a patchy response to the public health crisis that has failed to stem a rise in cases.

“They are dying, that’s true,” Trump said in an interview with the Axios news website. “It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t doing everything we can. It’s under control as much as you can control it. This is a horrible plague.”

In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has minimized the gravity of the pandemic and opposed lockdown measures, even as he and several of his cabinet tested positive for the virus.

The pandemic was initially slower to reach Latin America, which is home to about 640 million people, than much of the world. But officials have since struggled to control its spread because of the region’s poverty and densely packed cities.

More than 100 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean live in slums, according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Many have jobs in the informal sector with little in the way of a social safety net and have continued to work throughout the pandemic.

Even in parts of the world that had appeared to have curbed the spread of the virus, countries have recently seen single-day records in new cases, signaling the battle is far from over.

Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Bolivia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Uzbekistan and Israel all recently had record increases in cases.

Australia also reported a record number of new deaths on Wednesday, taking the country’s total to 247.

Meanwhile, back at home with 52,509 new coronaviruses (COVID-19) cases and 857 deaths in the last 24 hours, India crossed 19 lakh-mark with the total caseload standing at 19,08,254 while the total fatalities increased to 39,795, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare revealed on Wednesday.

The country had crossed the 18-lakh mark on Monday. Currently, 5,86,244 cases are active and 12,82,215 people have recovered from the disease. India has one of the lowest Case Fatality Rate (CFR) at 2.08 percent as compared to the global average.

With a recovery rate of 67.19 percent, a total of 51,706 people were discharged in the last 24 hours, the Ministry said.

In the last 24 hours, 6,19,652 samples have been tested.

Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with 4,50,196 cases and 15,842 deaths. Tamil Nadu comes in second with 2,63,222 cases and 4,241 deaths. Delhi, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh saw a decline in the number of active cases. Mizoram, Tripura, and Uttarakhand too witnessed active cases plummeting.

Story Credit - www.reuters.com