Global Covid-19 cases top 55.5mn: Johns Hopkins

Washington, Nov 18 (IANS) The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 55.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.3 million according to the Johns Hopkins University.As of Wednesday morning, the total caseload and death toll stood at 55,578,685 and 1,337,559, respectively, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 11,350,143 and 248,600, respectively, according to the CSSE.India comes in second place in terms of cases at 8,874,290, while the country's death toll soared to 130,519.The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (5,911,758), France (2,087,183), Russia (1,954,912), Spain (1,510,023), the UK (1,414,359), Argentina (1,329,005), Italy (1,238,072), Colombia (1,211,128) and Mexico (1,011,153), the CSSE figures showed.Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 166,699.The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (99,026), the UK (52,839), Italy (46,464), France (46,346), Iran (42,461), Spain (41,688), Argentina (36,106), Peru (35,271), Colombia (34,381), Russia (33,619) and South Africa (20,432).
--IANS int/