WHO(SONNA):Globally, cases rose to more than 12 million on Wednesday, with 548,799 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University tally.
The United States continues to be the hardest hit country, reporting more than 60,000 new cases on Wednesday, the biggest increase ever reported by a country in a single day.
It was also the second day in a row that US deaths climbed by more than 900 in a day, the highest levels seen since early June. The US now has 3,051,427 confirmed cases and recorded 132,256 deaths.
Brazil’s death toll also continued to climb – nearing 68,000 on Wednesday – the second-most in the world. The populous South American country has recorded 1,713,160 cases.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the severity of Covid-19 for months and has now tested positive, is turning himself into a test case live before millions of people as he swallows hydroxychloroquine pills on Facebook.
A string of studies in Britain and the United States, as well as by the World Health Organisation, have found anti-malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine ineffective against Covid-19 and sometimes deadly because of their adverse effects on the heart.
India reported nearly 25,000 new coronavirus infections on Thursday. The new cases bring the total in the world’s third worst-affected country to 767,296. India’s health ministry said the Covid-19 death toll had risen to 21,129.
