More than 15 mln confirmed Covid-19 cases worldwide

The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the world on Wednesday exceeded 15 million, according to a Reuters report. In the seven months of the pandemic, over 616,000 people died from Covid-19. According to the agency, the figure of 15 million was exceeded on Wednesday when the Indian authorities reported the detection of nearly 40,000 new infections in the last 24 hours.

Although the pandemic has to some extent been contained in Europe and many Asian countries, the daily number of new infections continues to rise and is now around 240,000. This is mainly the effect of constantly growing numbers, incl. in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, India, and South Africa.

So far, the highest number of coronavirus infections has been recorded in the USA (4 million), Brazil (2.15 million) and India (1.2 million). As Reuters notes, 15 million cases of Covid-19 worldwide are more than three times the annual average of flu cases. The number of deaths so far in the seven months of the coronavirus pandemic - 616,000 - ranks in the upper range of annual deaths from influenza.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 290,000-650,000 people worldwide die from influenza every year. 

(PAP)