COVID-19 case total in United States crosses 19 million mark

Maryland [US], December 28 : The COVID-19 case total in the United States has surpassed 19 million, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from various sources including local authorities and media outlets.
As of 01:23 IST on Monday, Johns Hopkins University had registered 19,069,926 positive tests for the coronavirus disease in the United States.
The country's death toll, at the same time, stood at 332,705. The US case total, which is the largest in the world, topped the 18 million mark this past Monday. Currently, 80,627,634 cases and 1,762,015 deaths have been registered globally.
The first-ever International Day of Epidemic Preparedness, held on December 27, was called for by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate the importance of the prevention of, preparedness for and partnership against epidemics.
The World Health Organisation called on countries to invest their capacities to prevent, detect and mitigate emergencies of all kinds.
Last week, UK health officials announced that the country had identified a new variant of the coronavirus that spreads faster than other Sars-Cov-2 virus strains. Many countries have suspended passenger travel to and from the United Kingdom in a bid to prevent the import of the new virus strain.
The new coronavirus variant, which infects more easily but does not appear to be more deadly or pose any concerns for vaccines, has already been detected in several countries, including Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa and Australia.