Global Covid cases near 192 million

The global Covid-19 caseload is inching closer to the 192-million mark, as the second wave of the pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world even with mass inoculations underway. 

The total caseload and fatalities stand at 191,951,455 and 4,126,444, respectively, as of Thursday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU), AP reports. 

So far, more than 3.713 billion vaccine doses have been administered across the globe. 

The US, which is the world's worst-hit country in terms of both cases and deaths, has so far logged more than 34.226 million cases, as well as 609,861 deaths to date, as per the JHU data.

Brazil registered 1,424 more Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, raising its national death toll to 544,180, its health ministry said on Tuesday. 

As many as 27,592 new cases were detected during the period, taking the total caseload to more than 19.42 million, the ministry said. 

Brazil currently has the world's second-highest pandemic death toll and the third-largest caseload after the US and India.

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The third worst-hit country India's Covid-19 tally rose to over 31.216 million on Wednesday as 42,015 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, as per the federal health ministry's data. 

Besides, as many as 3,998 deaths in the past 24 hours till Tuesday morning took the total death toll to 418,480. 

According to AP, India's excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official Covid-19 toll, likely making it modern India's worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South Asian country.

The report released on Tuesday estimated excess deaths – the gap between those recorded and those that would have been expected – to be 3 million to 4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021. It said an accurate figure may “prove elusive” but the true death toll “is likely to be an order of magnitude greater than the official count.” 

The report was published by Arvind Subramanian, the Indian government's former chief economic adviser, and two other researchers at the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit thinktank based in Washington, and Harvard University.