Shawdesh Desk:

With the pandemic showing little sign of relenting in some countries, the global Covid caseload has now surged past 108 million.

The total case count reached 108,156,270 while the death toll from the deadly virus climbed to 2,382,172 on Saturday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US remained the world’s worst-hit country in both the number of cases and fatalities — at 27,489,619 and 480,748, respectively.

Brazil’s Ministry of Health on Friday reported 51,546 Covid-19 infections and 1,288 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s tally to 9,765,455 cases and 237,489 deaths.

The South American country is prepared to skip this year’s traditional Carnival for the first time, with all activities cancelled to avoid large gatherings in Brazil’s main cities.

India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 10,880,603 on Friday, as 9,309 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 155,447 as 87 Covid patients died since Thursday morning.

Another worst-hit country in terms of fatalities, Mexico has reported 172,557 deaths and 1,968,566 cases so far.