Washington, June 17 (IANS) The global number of COVID-19 cases has increased to over 8.1 million mark, while the death toll surged to over 441,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Wednesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 8,155,266, while the fatalities increased to 441,505, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

With 2,137,707 cases and 116,962 deaths, the US continues with the world's highest number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, according to the CSSE.

In terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 923,189 infections.

This was followed by Russia (544,725), India (343,091), the UK (299,600), Spain (244,328), Italy (237,500), Peru (237,156), France (194,347), Iran (192,439), Germany (188,252), Turkey (181,298), Chile (184,449), Mexico (154,863), Pakistan (148,921), Saudi Arabia (136,315) and Canada (101,085), the CSSE figures showed.

With 45,241 COVID-19 deaths, Brazil accounts for the second highest number of fatalities in the world.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (42,054), Italy (34,405), France (29,550), Spain (27,136) and Mexico (18,310).

--IANS sdr/