Washington, August 9: The United States, worst-affected due to outbreak of novel coronavirus across the world, crossed the 5 million-mark on Sunday. As per the John Hopkins tally, the country's COVID-19 count surged to 5,000,603 in early hours of the day. The country accounts for over one-fourth of the worldwide tally of infections.

The death count, as per the tracker, stood at 162,441 in the US by the time this report was published. The fatality toll is way higher than Brazil and India, which trail at the second and third spot, respectively, in the global tally of COVID-19 infections. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Russia Set to Register World's First Vaccine Against Coronavirus on August 12; Here's All You Need to Know.

While Brazil has so far reported 100,477 deaths due to the contagious disease, the toll in India was reported as 43,379, as per the last update issued by the Indian government. A number of countries - with a lower case count - has reported more number of fatalities. This includes UK (46,651) and Mexico (52,006).

US Crosses 5 Million COVID-19 Cases

The surge in infections in the United States is driven by the upswing in number of infections in provinces based on the eastern coast. Florida, North and South Carolinas have been reported more than 1,000 cases per day for most past month and first week of August.

US President Donald Trump, in a bid to defend his administration's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, credited the high number of tests in the United States as the reason behind the lead in global tally. His critics, however, have dismissed his argument by pointing that America also tops the chart of fatalities, despite sizing a smaller population as compared to India or China.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 09, 2020 08:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).