The number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the globe has surpassed the 1 million mark as the world struggles to tackle the spreading pandemic.
Around 1,002,000 people have been diagnosed with the COVID-19 disease worldwide with the death toll exceeding 51,000 deaths.
The true extent of the pandemic is likely to be significantly greater as some countries are suspected of underreporting their figures and a lack of testing facilities in others.
The United States, the world’s hardest-hit country has reported 236,000 cases with more than 5,600 casualties, of which more than 1,000 occurred in the last 24 hours. The worst-hit place is New York City. As of Thursday, nearly 47,500 people have tested positive with 1,300 deaths in the metropolitan city.
A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefit claims last week
Italy has reported world’s highest death toll reaching 13,915 deaths with a total of 83,049 cases in the country.
The death toll in Spain passed 10,000 on Thursday as the number of confirmed cases reached 102,136. The country has lost nearly 900,000 jobs due to coronavirus outbreak as a country-wide lockdown has been imposed by the government.
The World Bank has approved to disburse $160bn in emergency aid over 15 months to help countries stricken by the pandemic.