Global COVID-19 cases top 23.3 mn

Washington DC: The overall number of global Coronavirus cases has topped 23.3 million, while the deaths have increased to over 807,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Monday morning, the total number of cases stood at 23,348,081 and the fatalities rose to 807,383, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 5,701,557 and 176,797, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 3,605,783 infections and 114,744 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (3,044,940), and is followed by Russia (954,328), South Africa (609,773), Peru (585,236), Mexico (560,164), Colombia (533,103), Chile (397,665), Spain (386,054), Iran (358,905), Argentina (342,154), the UK (327,643), Saudi Arabia (307,479), Bangladesh (294,598), Pakistan (292,765), France (280,459), Italy (259,345), Turkey (258,249), Germany (234,494), Iraq (204,341), Philippines (189,601), Indonesia (153,535), Canada (126,815), Qatar (117,008), Bolivia (108,427), Ecuador (107,769), Ukraine (107,379), Kazakhstan (104,543) and Israel (102,663), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the Mexico (60,480), India (56,706), UK (41,515), Italy (35,437), France (30,518), Spain (28,838), Peru (27,453), Iran (20,643), Russia (16,341), Colombia (16,968), South Africa (13,059) and Chile (10,852).

Breakneck efforts to develop a vaccine or effective treatments are under way around the world, but until one is available, social distancing measures remain among the few weapons against the virus.

New Zealand on Monday extended the lockdown of its biggest city to Sunday as it battled a small but persistent outbreak. Auckland went into lockdown on August 12, a day after the virus re-emerged in the city and ended New Zealand's run of 102 days without local transmission.