Shawdesh Desk:

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 53 million globally, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.

The confirmed coronavirus cases reached 53, 284,867 with over 1,301,021 fatalities as of Saturday.

The US has recorded 10,724,830 cases with 244,302 deaths so far amid a nationwide surge of infections that shows no sign of slowing.

The United States reported an all-time high of nearly 200,000 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, setting a new record for the fifth time in a week, data updated Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.

Brazil on Friday reported 456 deaths from COVID-19, raising the nationwide death toll to 164,737.

Meanwhile, the Latin American country registered 29,070 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the accumulated national caseload to 5,810,652.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll, following the United States, and the third most COVID-19 cases, after the United States and India.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, India’s caseload now stands at 8,728,795. The country’s death toll has mounted to 128,668.

The world’s largest vaccine maker, Serum Institute of India Ltd, is ramping up production of AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate, aiming to have 100 million doses ready by December for an inoculation drive that could begin across India that same month.