More than 39.07 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,099,592 have died, according to a Reuters tally published on Saturday. With 217,734 deaths and over 8 million confirmed cases, the United States tops the list of twenty countries with the highest recorded infections and deaths in the world, followed by India, Brazil and Russia. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. In Washington, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Friday, reported 7,958,254 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 63,486 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 892 to 216,917, according to Reuters. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on Oct. 15 versus its previous report a day earlier. The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states. In New Delhi, India's tally of the coronavirus disease stood at 7.4 million on Saturday after 62,212 fresh infections were reported from across the country in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry data showed. Deaths from COVID-19 infections rose by 837 to 112,998, the ministry said. There were 70,816 patients of the coronavirus disease who were cured between Friday and Saturday, taking the number of recoveries in the second worst-hit country to 6,524,595. The national recovery rate is now 87.78% The Health Ministry has said that India continues to report one of the lowest deaths per million population which was 81 on Friday. It sad that there have less than 1,100 deaths since Oct. 2. "These results are boosted by 22 States/UTs which had demonstrated better performance and are reporting even lower deaths per million compared to the national average. The case fatality rate has been on the downslide continuously. At the current figure of 1.52%, it is the lowest since 22nd March 2020," it said in a statement on Friday. In Moscow, the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Russia over the past 24 hours has increased by 15,150, the highest during the entire pandemic, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Friday. According to the crisis center, the relative daily growth over the past 24 hours has increased to 1.1 percent. The total number of infections has risen to 1,369,313. In Brussels, the rising number of coronavirus infections in Belgium has led the government to shut all restaurants and bars for four weeks, DPA reported. There would also be a nationwide curfew from midnight until 5 a.m., Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced after a crisis meeting on Friday. Citizens should work at home where possible and have close contact with only one person outside their own household. The seven-day average of new daily infections has hit nearly 6,000 in Belgium, making it one of the worst-hit nations in Europe. In Mexico City, the nation's Health Ministry on Friday reported 6,751 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 419 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 841,661 cases and 85,704 deaths, according to Reuters. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. — Agencies
