The raging COVID-19 pandemic shows no sign of abating as confirmed cases worldwide have exceeded 90 million and a new variant genome has been detected in Japan.
The global case count reached 90,045,410, with a total of 1,931,571 deaths worldwide as of 3:22 p.m. local time (2022 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
The United States has been the hardest-hit country worldwide both in terms of infections and fatalities with 22,293,281 cases and 373,588 deaths, accounting for 24 percent and over 19 percent of the global total respectively, followed by India with 10,450,284 cases, and Brazil with 8,075,998 cases but with the world’s second largest death toll of 202,631.
Countries with more than 2 million cases also include Russia, Britain, France, Turkey, Italy and Spain, while other countries with over 50,000 deaths include India, Mexico, Britain, Italy, France, Russia, Iran and Spain, according to the CSSE tally.
Global cases hit 60 million on November 25, surpassed 70 million on December 11 and hit 80 million on December 26. It took 16 days to climb from 60 million to 70 million, 15 days from 70 million to 80 million, and 15 days from 80 million to 90 million.
Japan’s Health Ministry said on Sunday that four passengers who arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport from Brazil earlier this month had been infected with a new variant of COVID-19.
Besides, the variants earlier found in Britain and South Africa have spread to many countries during the past 24 hours.
Xinhua