Covid-19 Cases Worldwide Tops 10 Million with Death Toll Fast Approaching Half a Million

The coronavirus pandemic reached a new milestone today, with the number of confirmed cases worldwide surpassing the 10 million mark.

CORONAVIRUS fatalities are also fast-approaching half a million. There are now more than 10,044,731 confirmed cases and approximately 499,892 fatalities from the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Europe is the most affected continent with around 2,637,546 cases and 195,975 deaths, followed by the US (2,510,323 cases and 125,539 deaths). The pace of the pandemic’s spread continues to accelerate, with one million new cases reported in just six days, confirmed the World Health Organisation (WHO). Although the disease is somewhat under control in many parts of Europe, it’s still raging across countries like India and parts of Central and South America. In terms of countries most affected, the US has registered the most cases, followed by Brazil, Russia, India and the UK.

WHO in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes 22 countries from Morocco to Pakistan and Afghanistan, also confirmed more than a million Covid-19 infections (1,025,478) in the region with almost 23,500 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The countries with the most cases include Iran (222,669 infections and 10,508 deaths) and Pakistan (202,955 infections and 41,108 deaths).

So far, New Zealand successfully managed to eradicate the virus by mid-May, without registering new cases for around 24 days before identifying two imported cases earlier this month. WHO’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he expected the number of global coronavirus infections to reach the 10 million mark “by next week”, just a few days ago.