The world has now recorded over 20 million cases of COVID-19.  |  Photo Credit: iStock Images

Over six months from when the first case of COVID-19 was detected at a seafood market in the city of Wuhan, China, the total number of infections across the world has now breached 20 million, marking yet another grim milestone in the story of the pandemic. It will also be only a matter of days now before the number of fatalities caused by the virus exceeds 750,000.

That being said, the World Health Organisation's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has typically been less than optimistic in his assessment of the pandemic in the past, issued a rare statement of encouragement saying, there are green shoots of hope and that it's never too late to turn the outbreak around.

The numbers seem to validate the WHO chief's statement. Although cases continue to rise, the rate at which they are trending upward has appeared to stabilise. Since mid-July, roughly one million cases are being recorded daily.

It took 94 days for the first one million infections to be registered, and 86 days on from that landmark, the ten million mark was reached. Over the last month and a half, the numer of COVID-19 infections has doubled.

A substantial contribution to the rise in infections in recent days has come from Latin America and the Carribean. This is currently the worst-affected region recording over 56 lakh cases and more than 220,000 deaths. 576,583 infections have been recorded in the last seven days alone.

Asia follows closely behind with 495,663 infections over the same period. Canada and the United States with 379,017 infections, Europe with 153, 879, Africa with 89,644, the Middle East with 74,588 and Oceania with 3,372 make up the rest.

Although the infection is spreading more rapidly in Asia, Canada and the United States, the second worst-affected region, has registered over 51 lakh infections and 172,300 deaths. The death rate has slowed significantly in the United States but it is Africa with 23,582 deaths that is the least affected region.

More than half of all cases in Oceania have originated in South Africa which has risen up the ladder in recent weeks to become the fifth worst-affected country, behind the United States, Brazil, India and Russia.

Despite global rates stabilising, there isn't much reason for cheer in India. The subcontinent recorded the highest number of fresh cases globally over the last seven days with more than 402,000 ahead of even the United States that continues to be, by far, the worst affected nation. The US recorded 376,471 infections over the last week, ahead of Brazil (301,745), Colombia (69.830) and Peru (49,174).

It is important to note though that the testing rate of a country has a direct and pronounced relationship with the number of infections recorded in a country. Several countries do not have the requisite resources to carry out widespread testing, and currently only use tests in conjunction with contact-tracing exercises.

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COVID-19 infections breach 20 million mark: Pace of pandemic stabilising but where are the world's hotspots? - Times Now