New Delhi, India

Coronavirus has infected over 7.2  million people globally, as per data from the Johns Hopkins University. Currently, 7,240,085 people have been infected with the virus, while 411,279 people have lost their lives to the pandemic, which went global six months ago, after wreaking havoc in China.

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The five worst affected countries according to JHU tracker are: US (1,979,850), Brazil (739,503), Russia (484,630), United Kingdom (290,581), followed by India (276,146).

In the US alone, 112,006 deaths have been recorded.

Recently,  researchers at the University of Washington have estimated that 145,728 people could die due to coronavirus in the United States by August.

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Also read: Argentina's new daily coronavirus cases top 1,000 for first time

The World Health Organization warned against coronavirus worsening. “Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” it said, while adding that “asymptomatic patients” may not be a real cause of concern, then later backtracking on it.

Spain and Italy, the former hotspots of the virus are witnessing a dip in the infections, and were overtaken by India on Sunday. Other countries with over 100,000 cases include Peru, France, Germany, Iran, Turkey, Chile, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

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Also read: Canada, US set to extend border closure to end-July

New Zealand became one of the few countries to be “corona-free” on Monday, as the country’s last patient recovered from the virus, and no new infections reported in the last 18 days. Owing to this, the country has fully restored services like public transport, with all social distancing norms effectively lifted.

India and Brazil have been witnessing a daily surge in the number of reported cases, with India’s health body recently warning that the country is far from its peak.

The US has the highest toll in the world, but on a per capita basis, European countries have a much higher death toll.

Also read: COVID-19: 279 deaths in India in last 24 hours; infection cases surge to over 2.76 lakh

In mid-April, the US alone was witnessing 3,000 deaths everyday during its peak. Right now, the country records 1,000 deaths daily, with an estimated 20,000 new cases everyday

However, owing to the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against the murder of George Floyd, experts in the US believe a surge in the cases is coming, with copycat protests around the world triggering same fears. Florida already witnessed a jump in cases by over 40 per cent, with cases spiking in over 21 states over the last three days.

In Argentina, over 1,000 cases of new coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours, for the first time ever.

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)