Washington, Jul 9 (IANS): The overall number of global COVID-19 cases has surpassed the 12 million mark, while the deaths have increased to more than 548,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday morning, the total number of cases stood at 12,009,301, while the fatalities rose to 548,822, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities with 3,053,328 and 132,277, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 1,713,160 infections and 67,964 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (742,417), and is followed by Russia (699,749), Peru (312,911), Chile (303,083), the UK (288,511), Mexico (275,003), Spain (252,513), Iran (248,379), Italy (242,149), Pakistan (237,489), South Africa (224,665), Saudi Arabia (220,144), Turkey (208,938), France (206,072), Germany (198,699), Bangladesh (172,134), Colombia (124,494), Canada (108,334) and Qatar (101,553), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (44,602), Italy (34,914), Mexico (32,796), France (29,936), Spain (28,396), India (20,642), Iran (11,731), Peru (11,133) and Russia (10,650).