Shawdesh Desk:

The total number of global coronavirus cases has exceeded 64.4 million while the deaths surged past 1.49 million on Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The JHU data shows the number of total Covid-19 cases globally reached 64,447,657 with 1,491,559 deaths.

Covid-19 has hit 191 countries since the first cases were reported from China in December last year.

The US has reported 13,916,543 cases since the start of the pandemic and the country’s fatalities have climbed to 273,316.

The US daily death toll from Covid-19 crossed 2,700 on Wednesday, the highest since April, said the JHU.

New cases are running at over 160,000 a day on average, and deaths are up to more than 1,500 a day, a level seen back in May, during the crisis in the New York City area.

Several states reported huge numbers of new cases Wednesday, including a combined 40,000 in California, Illinois and Florida alone, reports AP.

States are seeing record-breaking surges in deaths, including Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky in the middle of the country. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the virus is “spreading like wildfire.”

A Covid-19 vaccine is expected to become available in a few weeks, and healthcare workers are likely to be given priority for the first shots.

Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll reached 174,515 on Thursday morning, after 698 more patients died in the last 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said.

Meanwhile, tests detected 49,863 new infections, bringing the total tally to 6,436,650.

Brazil has the world’s second deadliest outbreak, behind only the United States, and the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections.

With the rise in confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Asia-Pacific countries, India recorded 36,604 new cases, bringing the total to 9,499,413, according to the latest data from its federal health ministry.

According to the data, the death toll mounted to 138,122 as 501 patients died during this period.