Global cases cross 5 million

Washington: The total number of global coronavirus cases cross the 5 million mark on Thursday, while the death toll has increased to more than 328,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Currently, the total number of cases stood at 5,000,038, while the death toll increased to 328,172, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounts for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 1,551,853 and 93,439, respectively. In terms of cases, Russia has the second highest number of infections at 308,705, followed by Brazil (291,579), the UK (249,619), Spain (232,555), Italy (227,364), France (181,700), Germany (178,473), Turkey (152,587), Iran (126,949), India (112,442) and Peru (104,020), the CSSE figures showed.

Meanwhile, the UK came in second after the US with 35,786 COVID-19 deaths. The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (32,330), France (28,135), Spain (27,888) and Brazil (18,859).A large number of those new cases came from Brazil, which recently surpassed Germany, France and the United Kingdom to become the third-largest outbreak in the world, behind the United States and Russia.

Cases in Brazil are now rising at a daily pace second only to the United States. The pandemic has claimed over 328,000 lives, though the true number is thought to be higher as testing is still limited and many countries do not include fatalities outside of hospitals. Over half of the total fatalities have been recorded in Europe.

Meanwhile, people in New York City's lower-income neighbourhoods and communities of colour were suffering the most due to the coronavirus pandemic, state Governor Andrew Cuomo said citing official data. As shown in preliminary results of antibody tests of 8,000 people in New York City, the Bronx Borough, where a majority of residents are African-Americans and Latino-Americans, has the highest COVID-19 positive rate of 34 per cent, compared with a citywide average of 19.9 per cent, Cuomo said at Wednesday's briefing.

Ranking by zip codes, the top 10 highest-infected neighbourhoods were located in the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, home to most of the city's minority groups, reports Xinhua news agency.

The highest rate was recorded in Morrisania, the Bronx, where 43 per cent of residents tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies. All the other nine neighbourhoods had a positive rate of over 33 per cent.