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Coronavirus: Global COVID-19 cases top quarter of a billion

The coronavirus has infected more than 250 million people worldwide in less than two years, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

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By Monday night, the total number of COVID-19 cases confirmed worldwide stood at 250,306,133. Meanwhile, more than 5 million global virus-related fatalities have been reported, the Johns Hopkins data indicated.

The daily average number of global infections has fallen by 36% over the past three months, according to a Reuters analysis, but the highly transmissible delta variant, first detected in India, continues to fuel an estimated 50 million new worldwide cases every 90 days.

By contrast, it took eight months to record the first 50 million COVID-19 cases, CNN reported.

According to the Johns Hopkins tally, the United States, India and Brazil account for more than 40% of all reported cases. Specifically, the U.S.’s more than 46.6 million cumulative cases represent about 20% of the global total, followed by India with nearly 34.4 million cases, or 14%, and Brazil with nearly 21.9 million cases, or 9%.

Infections are still increasing in 55 out of 240 countries, with Russia, Ukraine and Greece at or near record levels of reported cases since the pandemic began, according to a Reuters analysis.

About 450,000 new COVID-19 cases were added to the global total each day over the past week, compared to a peak of 826,000 average daily cases on April 25, CNN reported.

“We think between now and the end of 2022, this is the point where we get control over this virus ... where we can significantly reduce severe disease and death,” Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist leading the World Health Organization, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, about 4 billion people globally have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and about 3.1 billion people are fully vaccinated, CNN reported, citing Our World in Data.

More coronavirus pandemic coverage:

>> Coronavirus: How long between exposure to the virus and the start of symptoms?

>> What are your chances of coming into contact with someone who has COVID-19? This tool will tell you

>> How to not let coronavirus pandemic fatigue set in, battle back if it does


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