SEJONG -- Global confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have topped 10 million, with the number of deaths now over 500,000 across 185 countries.

According to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, 19 countries saw the tally for COVID-19 patients exceed 100,000 each as of Saturday.

Those with numbers of COVID-19 cases surpassing 500,000 were the US, Brazil, Russia and India, whose collective tally approached 5 million. The figure for the US marked 2.55 million.

Some countries have suffered a 1,000 to 5,000 percent surge in the number of patients, on a collective basis, since mid-April.

Brazil -- with the second-highest number at 1.28 million -- recorded an increase of 5,600 percent in less than 80 days, compared to 22,318 cases on April 13.

Russia posted an increase of 3,200 percent during the April 13-June 27 period to 620,000, while India showed 5,400 percent to 509,000.
 

The next group included the UK, Spain, Peru, Chile, Italy and Iran, whose number of confirmed cases topped 200,000 each.

Peru and Chile -- whose tallies for novel coronavirus cases stayed at 7,500 and 7,000, respectively, as of April 13 -- both reported about 3,500 percent surges to 272,000 and 263,000 as of June 27.

Apart from these 10 countries, figures for nine other countries ranged between 100,000 and 200,000. France recorded 199,000, followed by Mexico with 196,000, Germany with 193,000, Turkey with 193,000 and Pakistan with 192,000.

The others were Saudi Arabia with 170,000, Bangladesh with 126,000, South Africa with 118,000 and Canada with 102,000.

Mexico posted a 4,100 percent growth as the country’s epidemic tally stood at 4,661 as of April 13, while Canada, 319 percent, from 24,308.

Qatar posted the 20th highest figure at 91,000, trailed by China at 83,000, Colombia at 80,000, Sweden at 63,000, Egypt at 61,000, Belgium at 61,000, Belarus at 60,000, Argentina at 52,000 and Indonesia at 50,000.

Indonesia reported more than 1,000 percent increase from 4,241 cases over the corresponding period.

Among those between 30,000-50,000 were the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Singapore, Portugal, Ukraine, Iraq, Oman, Poland, Philippines, Switzerland and Afghanistan.

Japan and South Korea, whose epidemic spread had been fast-paced initially, saw their tallies stand at 19,029 and 12,653, respectively.

Mortality rates from COVID-19 were relatively high in European countries: 18.3 percent in France, 15.9 percent in Belgium, 14.5 percent in Italy, 14 percent in the UK, 14 percent in Hungary, 12.2 percent in the Netherlands, 11.4 percent in Spain and 8.3 percent in Sweden.

Among the top four, the US saw its death rate record 5.1 percent, Brazil with 4.4 percent, Russia with 1.4 percent and India with 3.1 percent. Mortality in China, Japan and South were 5.6 percent, 5.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Korea saw its pace rebound this month as new confirmed cases have been reported in metropolitan areas such as Seoul, cities in Gyeonggi Province and Daejeon.

Among the 17 major areas in the nation, Daegu topped the list with 6,904 as of Saturday, followed by North Gyeongsang Province with 1,387, Seoul with 1,284, Gyeonggi Province with 1,167 and Incheon with 337.

The next group were South Chungcheong Province at 166, Busan at 152, South Gyeongsang Province at 133 and Daejeon at 104. Jeju Province posted the smallest figure in number of patients at 19.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)