Italy and Spain bore the brunt of the crisis as the grim tally hit another milestone even though half of the planet’s population is already under some form of lockdown in a battle to halt contagion. The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic infected 905,279 people worldwide and increased the death toll to 45,371 till 11.45 pm (IST- 1/4/20 ) on Wednesday even as the head of the United Nations has described this crisis as humanity’s worst since World War II. The US has recorded the highest numbers of cases worldwide at 199,092 including 4,361 deaths. Italy has a total of 110,574 positive cases including 13,155 deaths, the highest fatalities globally. Spain followed Italy with 102,136 cases and 9,053 deaths.
