The U.S. accounts for more than a quarter of the total and U.S., India and Brazil combine for more than half.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide topped 20 million on Tuesday, more than half of them from the U. S., India and Brazil. Health officials believe the actual number is much higher than that tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, given testing limitations and the fact that as many as 40% of those who are infected have no symptoms. It took six months or so to get to 10 million cases after the virus first appeared in central China late last year. It took just over six weeks for that number to double. An AP analysis of data through Aug.9 showed the U. S., India and Brazil together accounted for nearly two-thirds of all reported infections since the world hit 15 million coronavirus cases on July 22. The number of new daily cases has continued to rise in India, hitting a rolling seven-day average of 58,768. In the U. S., which has more than 5 million cases, the average has decreased since July 22 but remains high at 53,813 new cases a day. In the 45 days it took global reported infections to double to 20 million, the number of reported virus deaths climbed to 736,191 from 499,506, according to the Johns Hopkins count. That’s 236,685 new deaths, an average of more than 5,200 a day. About one-fifth of reported deaths, or more than 163,000, have been in the U. S., the highest in the world. Border closures, masks, lockdowns and infection data are now the new way of life for much of the world, where they aren’t he politically combustible factors they are in the U. S. A review by the Kaiser Health News service and The Associated Press found that at least 49 state and local public health leaders have resigned, retired or been fired since April across 23 states.
