Health officials check students’ temperatures, amid fears about the spread of the coronavirus in Bangkok, Thailand. File/AP

Gulf Today Report

More than 72.92 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,641,733 have died.

With 304,187 deaths and over 16.7 million confirmed cases, the United States tops the list of twenty countries with the highest recorded infections and deaths in the world.

California has reported more than 53,000 new coronavirus cases and 293 deaths, setting new records as hospitals struggled to keep up with the surge.

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State health officials said Wednesday a change in data processing added 15,337 previous cases to the count, but the new virus cases remained a daily record.

A Department of Motor Vehicles worker (right) speaks with a man in Los Angeles, California. AFP

The state has been grappling with soaring cases and hospitalizations. Most of California’s 40 million residents are under stay-at-home orders because of dwindling intensive care unit capacity.

Hospitals are filling up so fast that officials are rolling out mobile field facilities and scrambling to hire more doctors and nurses.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 26,923 to 1,406,161, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.

A man wearing a face cover cycles in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, amid a new coronavirus pandemic. File/AFP

The reported death toll rose by 698 to 24,125, the tally showed.

Russia on Thursday reported 28,214 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 6,711 in Moscow, pushing the national tally to 2,762,668.

Authorities said 587 people had died overnight, taking the official death toll to 49,151.

The fourth straight day that daily cases in India have stayed below 30,000. File photo

India reported 24,037 new coronavirus infections, taking its tally to 9.96 million, data from the health ministry showed on Thursday.

This is the fourth straight day that daily cases have stayed below 30,000, keeping with the country's trend of declining daily cases since hitting a peak of 97,000 single-day infections in September.

India has recorded the second-highest number of infections in the world after the United States.

Deaths rose by 382, the ministry said, taking the total to 144,451.