COVID-19: Global infections reach 7.36m, as Latin America records 70,000 deaths from pandemic

Fresh data provided by the Johns Hopkins University has revealed that more than 7.36 million people across the globe have now been confirmed to have COVID-19 and at least 416,000 have died from the virus.

This came after the total number of US COVID-19 cases surpassed two million with over 113,000 deaths, with Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard’s Global Health Institute, stating in an interview with CNN that the US may see 200,000 deaths because of the virus at some point in September.

In a related development, the cases of COVID-19 in Latin America reached a grim new milestone on Wednesday with total deaths exceeding 70,000, according to a Reuters count, as Mexico hit a daily record for confirmed infections.

Brazil, with the largest economy in the region, remains Latin America’s most affected country as total fatalities are just shy of 40,000, the world’s third highest death toll after the United States and Britain.

In the region’s second biggest country, Mexico, a new daily record of 4,883 confirmed cases was reported by the health ministry, along with 708 additional fatalities.