According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, the number of global cases has reached 9,154,232, a surge of 54,142 from the day before. While confirmed case growth has slowed in the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the rest of Europe, it has picked up in Russia, India and Latin America. Active cases worldwide number 4,095,560 and are 46% of the total of confirmed cases worldwide. The recovered case count is 4,585,022, which is up by 56,242. The positive difference between the daily increase in recovered cases and active cases continues to show improvement, and for the first time the spread approached 500,000.

It is notable that several nations that had a slowing of confirmed cases have become hotspots again. This includes, in particular, the United States and Germany. The increase in confirmed cases has risen above 30,000 in the United States over the past three days, a major acceleration. Several large states are responsible for the U.S. swell, including the three largest states by population: California, Texas and Florida.

Global fatal cases have hit 473,650, a one-day gain of 2,934. At the current rate, the number could hit 500,000 in about a week. Deaths are just above 5% of the world’s confirmed cases total. Many experts believe the death count is much too low, largely because many developing nations cannot track or accurately count numbers.

Total confirmed cases in the United States, the hardest-hit nation, have reached 2,391,336. The surge of 35,656 is among the largest increases in several weeks, and it is the third day in a row the figure has been above 30,000. U.S. confirmed cases are 26% of the world’s total. Active COVID-19 cases there totaled 1,528,434, and recovered cases were at 739,917, after rising by 6,823. It remains a bad sign that active cases are much higher than recovered ones. American coronavirus fatalities hit 122,985, or 853 higher in a day.

In Brazil, the second hardest hit nation, confirmed cases have reached 1,151,479, up by an extraordinary 40,131, and are still growing rapidly. The death count rose by 1,364 to 52,771. The increase was considerably higher than the day before. Carefully followed forecasts from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation show that COVID deaths in Brazil will move ahead of those in the United States by the end of July.

Russia has the third-highest number of confirmed cases at 606,881, but its increase of 14,601 remains relatively low. That is a fraction of the confirmed case increase in either the United States or Brazil. The nation posted a COVID-19 death increase of just 307 to 8,513, again much smaller than the growth in the two hardest-hit nations.

India, the fourth hardest hit country, also posted relatively small figures compared to Brazil. It has a confirmed case count of 457,423, or higher by 15,780. Deaths have reached 14,500, after rising by 473. The official Indian figures are almost certainly too low. The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi told reporters that he expected the city to have 550,000 cases by the end of July. Delhi has a population of 20 million, while India’s population is 1.353 billion. The infection rate across the nation is not uniform, which it is an indication that the COVID-19 case count for the country likely is much higher than reported.

Connecticut Troubles Slow

Connecticut was hit early, probably because of its proximity to New York City, the hardest-hit city in the world. Fairfield County, in the state’s southeast corner, has a number of commuter towns where people who work in New York City live. Recently, Connecticut has slipped down the list of states based on confirmed cases, which are 45,899. Deaths there stand at 4,277. In terms of confirmed cases, it has dropped behind 18 other states, in particular those with rapidly growing counts such as California, Texas, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina.

Chile Now One of the Hardest Hit Nations

The worst of the spread of COVID-19 has moved to Latin America. As mentioned above, Brazil ranks second among all nations in terms of confirmed cases at 1,151,479 and deaths of 52,771. Peru, with its relatively small population, ranks seventh with a confirmed case count of 260,810 and 8,404 deaths. Chile has moved into eighth place among all countries with 250,767 confirmed cases and 4,505 deaths. That moved it ahead of hard-hit Spain, which has 246,752 confirmed cases.

Notably, Chile is a relatively small nation in terms of total population, particularly compared to the United States, Brazil, Russian and India. It is ranked 60th in the world based on a population at 19,458,310. Peru ranks 42nd with a population of 32,824,358. Chile’s high COVID-19 case count, as well as Peru’s, is blamed on an impoverished population, poor medical care and a lack of social distancing.

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