GENEVA, July 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 212,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection were registered worldwide in the past day, surpassing 10.9 million, while the coronavirus-related fatalities increased by over 5,000 to over 523,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
WHO said, as many as 10,922,324 novel coronavirus cases and 523,011 coronavirus-associated deaths were registered across the globe.
The number of confirmed cases grew by 212,326 in the past 24 hours and the number of fatalities increased by 5,134. The WHO statistics are based on officially confirmed data from the countries.
On Friday, the organization reported 175,723 new cases and 5,032 deaths throughout the world.
South and North America account for the majority of confirmed coronavirus cases – 5,575,482. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew by 129,772 and the number of deaths – by 3,392 to top 259,094.
The number of confirmed COVID-2019 cases in Europe amounts to 2,757,556 and the number of fatalities is 199,510. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew, by 19,694 and the number of deaths went up by 565.
The East Mediterranean region has 1,135,604 cases and 26,521 fatalities. In the past 24 hours, the number of cases grew by 20,043 and the number of deaths – by 493.
The biggest number of coronavirus cases was registered in the United States (2,724,433), followed by Brazil (1,496,858), Russia (674,515), India (648,315), Peru (292,004), Chile (288,089), the United Kingdom (284,280), Spain (250,545), Italy (241,184), and Mexico (238,511).
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus – named COVID-19 by the WHO – have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11 in 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.
Meanwhile, the WHO announced on Saturday that it was discontinuing hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms for its Solidarity Trial, citing little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The WHO said the decision was in light of the evidence from the Solidarity Trial interim results.
“These interim trial results show that hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir produce little or no reduction in the mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared to standard of care. Solidarity trial investigators will interrupt the trials with immediate effect,” the WHO said in a press release.
But the organization said this decision applies only to hospitalized patients and does not affect the possible evaluation in other studies of hydroxychloroquine or lopinavir/ritonavir in non-hospitalized patients or as pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis for COVID-19.
The Solidarity Trial was established by the WHO in March to find an effective COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized patients. It was originally designed to have five trial arms, including standard or usual care provided to COVID-19 patients, remdesivir, lopinavir/ritonavir combined, lopinavir/ritonavir combined with interferon beta, and hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine.
By enrolling patients in multiple countries, the Solidarity Trial aims to rapidly discover whether any of the drugs slow disease progression or improve survival. — NNN-AGENCIES
