A woman wearing a face mask walks to get tested for Covid-19 at a sampling station in Prague, Czech Republic. Photo / AP
A woman wearing a face mask walks to get tested for Covid-19 at a sampling station in Prague, Czech Republic. Photo / AP
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus have topped 30 million worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
The worldwide count of known Covid-19 infections climbed past 30 million on Friday,with more than half of them from just three countries: the United States, India and Brazil, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins researchers.
The number increased by 10 million in just over a month; global cases passed 20 million on August 12.
The US leads the by-country count with at least 6,675,560 reported cases, followed by India with at least 5,214,677 and Brazil at 4,455, 386, the numbers showed.
Individual numbers could vary as the university's tally sometimes lags behind country reports.
The US also leads in the number of deaths at 197,643, followed by Brazil at 134,935 and India with a death toll of 84,372, the tally showed.
India's cases jump by another 96K
India's coronavirus cases jumped by a further 96,424 infections in the past 24 hours, showing little sign of levelling.
The Health Ministry on Friday raised the nation's total past 5.21 million, 0.37 per cent of its nearly 1.4 billion people. It said 1174 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 84,372 fatalities. Experts say India's death toll may be a significant undercount.
India is expected to have the highest national total of confirmed cases within weeks, surpassing the US, where more than 6.67 million people have been infected.
Health workers collect a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 in Hyderabad, India. Photo / AP
India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on his birthday on Friday, made a fresh appeal to people to wear masks and maintain social distance as his Government chalked out plans to handle big congregations expected during a major Hindu festival season beginning next month.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said with a recovery rate of more than 78 per cent, India has only 1 million active coronavirus cases in the country.
Nearly 60 per cent of the active cases are concentrated in five of 28 Indian states, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.
The worst-hit western Maharashtra state accounted for 474 of 1,174 of fatalities reported in the country in the past 24 hours.
Authorities extended until the end of September a ban on four or more people assembling at one place in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital. More than 178,000 people have been infected by coronavirus in Mumbai with 8320 deaths so far.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
• An Australian state government will open the state border to the national capital after being criticised for refusing to allow a Canberra resident to attend her father's funeral because of pandemic restrictions. Health Minister Steven Miles said Canberra travellers would no longer have to spend time in Queensland hotel quarantine from September 25. They'll have to fly rather than drive to Queensland, however, because Canberra is surrounded by New South Wales state, which remains subject to border restrictions.
• South Korea's daily coronavirus tally has stayed in the 100s for a 16th consecutive day as authorities struggle to contain small-scale, sporadic local infections. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Friday that the 126 cases added in the past 24 hours took the country's total to 22,783 with 377 deaths. South Korea's caseload has been slowing down recently, prompting authorities to relax elevated social distancing rules in the Seoul area. But the country's daily jump remains in triple digits as cluster transmissions linked to churches, schools and elsewhere and some untraceable cases have been continuously detected.
• China on Friday reported numbers of imported coronavirus cases surged to 32 over the previous 24 hours. Thirteen of those cases were reported in the northern province of Shaanxi, whose capital Xi'an is a major industrial centre, while the eastern financial and business hub of Shanghai reported 12. China, where the virus was first reported late last year, has gone more than a month without reporting any cases of local transmission but remains highly vigilant to cases brought from outside. It has suspended issuing new visas and anyone arriving from abroad is required to undergo two weeks quarantine. Schools, businesses, transport and public services have largely resumed normal operations under social distancing, mask wearing and location tracking requirements.
