World COVID-19 caseload nears 75- million mark

Baltimore (Maryland) [US], December 18 : The world COVID-19 caseload is nearing 75 million cases, as per the latest updates by Johns Hopkins University.
The COVID-19 dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) reported that the world tally stands at 74,952,221 and 1,662,127 fatalities due to the virus, as of 9:56 am IST.
About 42,318,910 patients -- who tested positive for COVID-19 worldwide -- have recovered from the disease, according to the dashboard further reporting that India continues to maintain pole position when it comes to most recoveries in the world with as many as 9,520,827 recoveries reported in the country.
The US continues to be the worst-affected country by the pandemic with the tally surging past 17 million. The caseload currently stands at 17,206,647 and 310,699 patients succumbing to COVID-19 across the country.
The tracker reported that India and Brazil continue to be the second and third most affected country in the world reporting over 9.97 million COVID-19 cases and 7.10 million cases respectively.
Brazil continues to have the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world, according to the tracker with over 184,827 fatalities across the South American country, the tracker stated further.
Russia comes fourth on the list with regard to most COVID-19 cases in the world reporting about 2,736,727 cases and 48,568 deaths due to the pathogen across the country. France comes fifth on the list reporting 2,483,524 coronavirus cases and 59,733 fatalities.
Turkey's COVID-19 tally is nearing 2 million cases as it has reported 1,955,680 cases and 17,364 deaths. The UK's caseload stands at 1,954,268 cases and 66,150 deaths across the country.
Meanwhile, advisors to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) voted in favour to recommend that the agency must give Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. According to CNN, top FDA officials said that they planned to quickly move ahead with the EUA.
French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for COVID-19, Sputnik reported citing French Presidency said on Thursday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for the Western Pacific on Thursday called for greater vigilance amid the roll-out of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, saying the vaccine is not a "silver bullet" that will end the nearly year-long pandemic which has already killed over 1.6 million.
Experts from India and the United Kingdom will collaborate via a new virtual hub to distribute vaccines for Covid-19 and other deadly viruses, the visiting foreign secretary of the United Kingdom Dominic Raab said on Wednesday.
Informing that the Drugs Controller General of India has granted clearance for the clinical trials of one more candidate vaccine from India, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul on Tuesday said six vaccines are currently undergoing clinical trials in the country.
The WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11.