Global cases of coronavirus exceed 13 million

(Reuters) – Global coronavirus infections passed 13 million on Monday, according to a Reuters count, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.

The first case was reported in China in early January and took three months to reach one million cases. It took just five days to climb to 13 million cases from the 12 million registered on July 8.

According to the World Health Organization, the number of cases is approximately three times that of serious influenza diseases registered annually.

So far, there have been more than 568,500 coronavirus-related deaths, within the same range as the annual number of influenza deaths reported worldwide. The first death was reported on January 10 in Wuhan, China, before infections and deaths emerged in Europe and then in the United States.

Many affected countries are reducing blockades to slow the spread of COVID-19. Other places, like the Australian city of Melbourne, are implementing a second round of stops.

The Reuters count, which is based on government reports, shows that the disease is accelerating faster in Latin America. The Americas account for more than half of the world’s infections and half of deaths.

The United States reported a daily world record of 69,070 new infections on July 10. In Brazil, 1.86 million people tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 72,000 people died.

India, the country with the third highest number of infections, has been facing an average of 23,000 new infections every day since the beginning of July.

In countries with limited testing capacity, case numbers reflect only a proportion of total infections. Experts say official data probably doesn’t represent infections as much as deaths.

(For an interactive Reuters chart, open this link in an external browser: tmsnrt.rs/2Zedzk8)