COVID-19 cases worldwide surpasses 40 million

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Pedestrians in masks pass a store on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, as government restrictions on business activity limit operations due to an increase of COVID-19 cases, in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of the borough of Queens in New York. After shutdowns swept entire nations during the first surge of the coronavirus earlier this year, some countries and U.S. states are trying more targeted measures as cases rise again around the world. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

LONDON (AP) – The world’s number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has surpassed 40 million. The milestone was hit Monday according to Johns Hopkins University, which collates tallies from around the world.

The actual figure is likely to be far higher, as testing has been variable, many people have had no symptoms and some governments have concealed the true number of cases.

The U.S., Brazil and India are reporting by far the highest numbers of cases, although the increase in recent weeks has been driven by a surge of new infections in Europe.

Last week, the World Health Organization said Europe had a reported a record high of nearly 700,000 new cases and that the region was responsible for about a third of cases globally.