World

Global COVID-19 cases cross 39.51 million, death toll at 1,105,938

October 18, 2020

TOKYO — More than 39.51 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,105,938 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Russia on Sunday recorded 15,099 new coronavirus cases, pushing the national tally to 1,399,334, officials said. They also said 185 people had died in the previous 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 24,187, and that 1,070,576 people had recovered from the virus.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 5,587 to 361,974 and the reported death toll rose by 10 to 9,777, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.

Indonesia reported 4,105 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, taking the total to 361,867, data from the country's COVID-19 task force showed. The data added 80 new deaths, taking the total to 12,511. Both the number of cases and deaths in the Southeast Asian country are the highest in the region.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

Brazil reported 24,062 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 461 deaths from the diseases caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The South American country has now registered around 5.22 million cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 153,675, according to ministry data, in the world's most fatal outbreak outside the United States.

India recorded 61,871 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to around 7.49 million, the Indian Health Ministry data showed this morning. According to a statement by the Health Ministry, there were 1,033 deaths in the same period taking total fatalities to 114,031.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus outbreak in Austria reached a new record on Saturday as the Health Ministry confirmed 1,747 new cases within the past 24 hours, DPA reported.

The previous highest number had been reported on Thursday with 1,552 cases. Case numbers have been rising steadily since early September, when the daily figures were still below 400. The government plans to discuss new health safety measures with representatives of Austria's nine provinces on Monday.

In mid-September, the government had lowered the maximum allowed people at public events, banned bars from serving customers who are not seated and mandated wearing of masks in shops. However, this has not stopped the upward trend, as many infections happen in private settings, according to health experts.

South Korea's new coronavirus cases rebounded above 50 on Saturday on cluster infections, putting health authorities on alert over a potential uptick in daily infections amid eased virus curbs, Yonhap reported.

The country added 73 more COVID-19 cases, including 62 domestic infections, raising the total caseload to 25,108, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It marked a rise from 47 daily cases Friday but a decline from 110 cases Thursday, when more than 50 reported cases were tied to a nursing home in the southern port city of Busan.

New virus cases dropped below the 50 mark for the first time since Sept. 29 on Friday, but health authorities remain vigilant about a potential spike in sporadic cluster infections.

New Zealand, meanwhile, reported one new case of coronavirus in the community on Sunday, as the virus re-emerged in the country after many days of no transmission within its borders.

The Health Chief Ashley Bloomfield said in a news conference that the infected person was identified early, and risk of transmission was contained, said the Reuters report.

In Brussels, total infections of coronavirus cases in Belgium on Sunday increased to 213,115 with 10,964 new infections reported by the Belgian health authorities, Thirty-three more deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours rating the total death toll to 10,392. — Agencies


October 18, 2020
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