There are over 23.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases globally, with over 806,000 fatalities and more than 15 million recoveries, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. has seen over 5.6 million infections and more than 176,000 deaths so far – both the highest of any country in the world.

South Korea reported 397 new cases on Sunday, the highest spike since March 7. The health authorities warned that the wider capital region of Seoul will brace for another wave of the pandemic and face masks will be mandatory in Seoul's public areas from midnight.

Brazil on Sunday reported it registered 494 deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the lowest number of fatalities in a single day since May 31.

India's COVID-19 total infections surpassed three million on Sunday. Over the past few weeks, the Indian government has been focusing on ramping COVID-19 testing.

The death toll due to the pandemic in the country also surged to 56,706.

As many as 69,239 new cases and 912 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours.

According to the data, there are still 707,668 active cases across India, and 2,280,566 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals.

Over the past few weeks, the Indian government has been focusing on ramping up the testing of COVID-19 samples.

As of Sunday, the Chinese mainland recorded 84,967 cases, with 374 asymptomatic patients under medical observation. The Chinese mainland recorded 16 new cases on Sunday, all from overseas. This is the eighth consecutive day the Chinese mainland reported no new domestically transmitted cases.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) on Sunday for investigational convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

It is part of the agency's ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19. Based on scientific evidence available, the FDA concluded this product may be effective in treating COVID-19 and that the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product, said a release of the agency.

Last week, Argentina and Mexico announced they will produce the coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

And on Friday, Argentina announced it will run a phase 3 trial with one of the vaccines developed by China.

Progress toward a licensed COVID-19 vaccine is some much needed positive news in Latin America—which now has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world.

Source: CGTN