Global Coronavirus cases surpass 30 million, shows tally

London: 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 Thursday, with more than half of them from just three countries: the US, 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 United States 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.

Israel is set to go back into a full lockdown later Friday to try to contain a Coronavirus outbreak that has steadily worsened for months as its government has been plagued by indecision and

infighting.

Israel has reported a total of more than 175,000 cases since the outbreak began, including at least 1,169 deaths. It is now reporting around 5,000 new cases a day, one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.

Meanwhile, an Australian state government said on Friday it will open the state border to the national capital after the government was 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.

The government was widely criticised for refusing to allow Sarah Caisip, 26, out of hotel quarantine to attend her father's funeral in the state capital Brisbane on Thursday last week.

She had wanted to visit her father's death bed but he had died two days before Queensland gave her a permit to cross the border.

Canberra is in the Australian Capital Territory which has not recorded a new case of COVID-19 since July 9.

Queensland has 27 active cases.

Canberra residents will have to fly rather than drive to Queensland because Canberra is surrounded by New South Wales state which remains subject to border restrictions.

New South Wales reported six new Coronavirus cases on Friday.

Canberra is 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Brisbane.

South Africa should know its true toll from the Coronavirus pandemic within a few weeks, the government's chief medical adviser says, as the country prepares to almost fully reopen its economy after bringing the first surge in cases under control.

The official death toll from COVID-19 is more than 15,700 but the real number is likely more than 30,000 when deaths not recorded at hospitals are taken into account, Salim Abdool Karim, epidemiologist and chairman of the government's COVID-19 advisory committee, told The Associated Press in an interview. The UK government on Friday further expanded localised lockdown measures in the northern parts of England as the number of Coronavirus cases remain on an upward trajectory across the country.