Global Covid-19 cases breach 72-million mark

Baltimore [US], December 14 : The global coronavirus caseload has breached the 72 million cases mark, as per the latest update by Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
As of 6:56 am (IST), the Covid-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at JHU reported that the world Covid-19 tally stands at 72,185,121 and 1,611,436 deaths due to the virus across the world.
The dashboard further reported that as many as 47,194,666 patients -- who tested positive for the novel coronavirus worldwide -- have recovered from the disease of which 9.3 million patients are from India which is the highest number of recoveries in the world.
The United States continues to be the worst-affected by the pandemic with its tally surpassing 16 million and deaths due to the pathogen nearing 300,000. Presently the US caseload stands at 16,240,370 while the number of patients across the country stands at 299,101.
The number of recovered patients across the nation is currently at 6,298,082, across the US.
India and Brazil continue to be the second and third most-affected countries in the world reporting over 9.8 million cases and 6.9 million cases respectively. Brazil has the second-highest death toll due to the virus in the world after the US reporting about 181,402 deaths in the South American country.
Russia has recorded 2,629,699 Covid-19 cases -- making it the fourth most-affected country in the world reporting 46,404 fatalities. France has reported 2,430,612 cases and 58,015 fatalities.
This comes after the global coronavirus cases breached 70 million cases on Saturday, just days ago.
Meanwhile, trucks with the first batches of the company's long-awaited Covid-19 vaccine departed the Pfizer plant in Portage, Michigan, on Sunday morning to 636 predetermined locations.
Pfizer is expected to deliver an estimated 2.9 million doses this week via UPS and FedEx, Gen. Gustave Perna, chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, according to NBC.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Sunday (local time) signed off on the advisory panel's recommendation to use Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine in people of age 16 and older. The initial doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be delivered to states from Monday morning, said General Gustave Perna, head of the Donald Trump-led administration's Operation Warp Speed.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Sunday that he instructed officials from the country's health and science ministries to secure deals with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers for enough doses to inoculate up to 70 per cent of the population.
US Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use across the country, President Donald Trump said that the vaccine will be administered "in less than 24 hours".
The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 as a pandemic on March 11.