Global cases of the novel coronavirus neared 7 million on Saturday, as case numbers surge in Brazil and India, according to a Reuters tally.
About 30% of those cases, or 2 million infections, are in the United States, though the fastest growing outbreak is in Latin America, which now accounts for roughly 16% of all cases.
Globally, deaths from the novel coronavirus are approaching 4,00,000.
The United States accounts for about one-quarter of all fatalities but deaths in South America are rapidly rising.
The number of deaths linked to COVID-19 in just five months is now equal to the number of people who die annually from malaria, one of the world's most deadly infectious diseases.
The first COVID-19 death was reported on Jan. 10 in Wuhan, China but it was early April before the death count passed 1,00,000, according to the Reuters tally of official reports from governments. It took 23 days to go from 3,00,000 to 4,00,000 deaths.
The United States has the highest death count in the world at almost 1,10,000. Fatalities in Brazil are rising rapidly and the country may overtake the United Kingdom to have the second-largest number of deaths in the world.
The total number of deaths is believed to be higher than the officially reported 4,00,000 as many countries lack supplies to test all victims and some countries do not count deaths outside of a hospital.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
