The coronavirus pandemic has ripped through the world and has reached every continent except Antarctica. The vast majority of cases and deaths are now outside mainland China, where the outbreak began.
The deadly disease has now crossed another grim milestone of?5 million infections worldwide, while the death toll has surged past 320,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
The United States, which is currently a global hotspot?accounts for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 1,611,00 and 95,087, respectively.?
In terms of cases, Russia has the second highest number of infections at 318,200, followed by Brazil (310,087), the UK (251,319), Spain (233,000), and Italy (228,104.
Meanwhile, the UK accounted for the second highest COVID-19 deaths worldwide at 36,010.?
The epicentre of the virus seems to have shifted from US to Russia and Brazil. In Russia, the cases have been rising at an alarming rate with hospitals becoming hotspots, thus ailing the response to the virus.?
Russia has recorded far fewer deaths than other countries with large outbreaks, but critics have cast doubt on the low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting in order to play down the scale of the crisis.
Russian health officials say one of the reasons the count is lower than in the United States and parts of western Europe is that only deaths directly caused by the virus are being included.
Authorities also say that since the virus came later to Russia, there was more time to prepare hospital beds and launch wide-scale testing to slow the spread.
Meanwhile, Brazil has?suffered a record of 1,188 daily coronavirus deaths on Thursday and is fast approaching Russia to become the world's No. 2 COVID-19 hot spot behind the United States.
Brazil also passed 20,000 deaths on Thursday and has 310,087 confirmed cases, up over 18,500 in a single day, according to Health Ministry data. The true numbers are likely higher but Brazil has not carried out widespread testing.