Coronavirus tally: Global cases of COVID-19 top 226 million and one in 500 Americans has died of the virus

The global tally for the coronavirus-borne illness climbed above 226.4 million on Thursday, while the death toll rose to 4.66 million, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. continues to lead the world with a total of 41.5 million cases and 666,618 deaths. With a population of 328 million people, that means roughly one in 500 Americans have died of the virus. Low vaccination rates and the rapidly spreading delta variant of the virus continue to push cases, hospitalizations and deaths higher, particularly in southern states, where some hospitals are close to full capacity. The U.S. is averaging 152,605 new cases a day, 98,449 hospitalizations and 1,943 deaths, according to a New York Times tracker, meaning it is suffering the same number of deaths every two days as lives lost in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. India is second by cases after the U.S. at 33.3 million and has suffered 443,928 deaths. Brazil has second highest death toll at 588,597 and 21 million cases. In Europe, Russia has most fatalities at 192,340, followed by the U.K. at 134,976.

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