Washington: More than 1,002,000 people have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease worldwide, as the death toll surpassed 53,000 while about 210,000 patients recovered.
Nearly 53,000 people have died and more than 210,000 have recovered
The coronavirus pandemic death toll in Spain passed 10,000 recently, as the country reported its highest single-day number of deaths since the outbreak began, with the total rising by more than 1,000 to 10,096 among 110,238 infections.
The US has the most cases, and more than 1,000 died there in the past day.
The disease, Covid-19, first emerged in central China three months ago.
Though the tally kept by US university's figures, Johns Hopkins records one million confirmed cases, the actual number is thought to be much higher.
It took a month and a half for the first 100,000 cases to be registered. A million was reached after a doubling in cases over the past week.
Nearly a quarter of cases have been registered in the United States, while Europe accounts for around half.
There are 117 countries and territories that have reported over 100 cases, 50 with outbreaks of over 1,000 and seven that have reported 50,000 or more Covid-19 cases, mainly in Europe.
The global fatality rate is now over 5pc of all reported cases, with countries, including the United Kingdom, the US and Spain reporting a spike in fatalities over recent days.
Around 22pc of total cases has been reported by the US, while Italy and Spain have each reported 11pc of global cases. China, where the virus emerged in December, has reported 8pc of total cases globally as the epicentre of the pandemic moved to Europe and the US.
The pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the global economy, with the US announcing that a record 6.65 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week and Spain reporting its biggest monthly increase in jobless claims ever.
World Health Organisation Head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been a ‘near exponential growth’ in new cases. The crisis has put enormous strain on national health care systems and on nurses, doctors and other medical staff working in the most difficult of circumstances.
-DN Report
Dr Muattar Hanif
The author is Editor at Dental News Pakistan and can be reached at newsdesk@medicalnewsgroup.com.pk
