More than 62 million (62,653,441) people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,459,746 have died with total recoveries reaching 43,270,529, according to a global tally published on Sunday. Infections have been reported in more than 218 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. Coronavirus cases have surged over the past few months in several regions of the world and large numbers of new infections are being reported daily. The US has recorded almost 13.1 million cases and more than 264,813 deaths from coronavirus, the highest figures in the world. It tops the list of 20 countries with the highest recorded infections and deaths in the world. Daily cases have been at record levels since early November and there are now more than 90,000 people in hospital. In New Delhi, Indian health authorities said on Sunday that 496 people died due to COVID-19 while 41,810 positive cases were reported from across the country in the last 24 hours. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement that deaths due to coronavirus rose to 136,696 while the total number of COVID-19 cases amounted to 9,392,919. The Health Ministry said that 8,802,267 people recovered from the pandemic as it spread to 35 Indian states. In Moscow, Russia recorded on Sunday 459 additional COVID-19 deaths and 26,683 new infections in a span of 24 hours. Overall infections increased to 2,269,316 cases, while the death toll surged to 39,527 fatalities, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said. Additionally the total number of healed cases increased to 1,761,457 after adding 21,987 fresh recoveries, it said. In Paris, France Ministry of Health on Saturday confirmed 213 deaths from the novel coronavirus and 12,580 infection cases. The figures took the country's death toll to 52,127 and the caseload 2,208,699 according to the ministry. In Brussels, total infections of coronavirus cases in Belgium on Sunday increased to 574,448 with 3,619 new infections reported by Belgian health authorities. They said 122 more deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours raising the total death toll to 16,461. In Athens, Greece reported 121 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, a daily record, with hospitals in the north of the country under pressure as intensive care beds fill up with COVID-19 patients, according to Reuters. Health authorities reported 1,747 COVID-19 cases on Saturday bringing the total since the first case was detected in February to 103,034. The death toll stands at 2,223. "This year's Christmas will be very different," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited front line workers in northern Greece on Saturday, told a local radio station. Authorities have a nationwide lockdown in place until Dec. 7, with repeated appeals to a fatigued public to conform to distancing regulations. "I really ask for some more patience and one more effort ahead of Christmas," Mitsotakis said. A two-month lockdown in March helped contain the spread of infections but a renewed spike since October prompted new restrictions. In Vienna, Austrian Health Ministry declared on Sunday that coronavirus infections rose to 278,170 after recording 4,669 new infections during the past 24 hours. The Austrian Ministry of Health said that more than 210,000 people have recovered, while deaths total amounted to 3,105. In Seoul, the daily number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea exceeded 500 for the third straight day on Saturday, Yonhap News Agency reported. South Korea added 504 more COVID-19 cases, including 486 local infections, raising the total caseload to 33,375, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Several countries around the world are currently seeing cases spike. In the Middle East, both Iran and Jordan have seen the number of daily infections rise sharply in recent weeks. In Latin America, Brazil has more than six million confirmed cases and the world's second highest death toll. There are concerns the country is now facing a second wave of infections. Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have also recorded more than one million cases. Peru is also approaching that milestone, although daily cases are falling. Africa has recorded more than two million cases, although the true extent of the pandemic there is not known as testing rates are low. South Africa, with more than 770,000 cases and more than 21,000 deaths, is still the worst affected country on the continent. Morocco, Egypt and Ethiopia are the only other African countries to officially record more than 100,000 cases. Governments across the world have been forced to limit public movement and close businesses and venues in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. This has had a devastating impact on the global economy. Damage to the world's major economies is four times worse than the 2009 global financial crisis, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Meanwhile, the United Nations has said that up to 265 million people could face starvation by the end of the year because of the impact of COVID-19. The pandemic could also wipe out 25 years of increasing gender equality, gdata from UN Women suggests. — Agencies
