Global coronavirus death toll tops 600,000

United States leads the list with 140,103 deaths, followed by 78,772 fatalities in Brazil and 45,358 in the United Kingdom

Johns Hopkins University on Saturday said the global death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 600,000.

The university’s tally as of Saturday night said the United States tops the list with 140,103 deaths. It is followed by 78,772 fatalities in Brazil and 45,358 in the United Kingdom.

The number of confirmed infections worldwide has passed 14.2 million, out of which 3.7 million are in the United States. There are over 2 million in Brazil and more than 1 million in India.

The World Health Organization again reported a single-day record of new infections with 259,848.

The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 has doubled in just over two months, and more than 100,000 new deaths have been registered in the three weeks since June 28.

An employee of a funeral home plays the violin during the accompaniment of mourning before the cremation of a victim of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, at the Serafin cemetery in Bogota, on July 17, 2020. (Raul ARBOLEDA / AFP)

Experts believe the true numbers around the world are higher because of testing shortages and data collection issues in some nations.

South Africa on Saturday became one of the top five worst-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic, as breathtaking new infection numbers around the world were a reminder that a return to normal life is still far from sight.

In the US, teams of military medics have been deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deluged by patients. The surge of infections means that millions of American children are unlikely to return to classrooms full time in the fall.

Infections are soaring in US states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, fueled by the haphazard lifting of coronavirus lockdowns and the resistance of some Americans to wearing masks.

A coffin containing the remains of an alleged victim of the new coronavirus remains at the parking lot of the School Hospital in Tegucigalpa, on July 17, 2020. (ORLANDO SIERRA / AFP)

In India, a surge of 34,884 new cases was reported as local governments continue to re-impose focused lockdowns in several parts of the country.

In Iran, the president made the startling announcement that as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Hassan Rouhani cited a new Health Ministry study that has not been made public. Iran has the Middle East’s worst outbreak with more than 270,000 confirmed cases.

Scientists, meanwhile, poured cold water on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s hope that the country may return to normal by Christmas.

In this file photo taken on May 21, 2020 Worker move a coffin with the body of a COVID-19 victim out of a refrigerated container before its cremation at the El Angel crematorium, in Lima. (Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP)

A world where people can “go to work normally, travel on the buses and trains, go on holiday without restrictions, meet friends, shake hands, hug each other and so on — that’s a long way off, unfortunately,” without a vaccine, said epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.