Globally, as of 7 pm BJT on Wednesday, there have been 71,919,725 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 1,623,064 deaths, reported the World Health Organization.

People walk beneath illuminated signs above Carnaby Street in London, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. (Photo: AP)

Current status (data as of 7 pm BJT, December 16):

Sources: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies.

The outbreak has now claimed 308,344 lives in the US, the most of any country, with a total of 16,928,551 infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 7 pm BJT on Wednesday.

India has confirmed a total of 9,932,547 COVID-19 cases, raising the number of deaths to 144,096.

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Brazil have increased to 6,970,034 with 182,799 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported.

Russia has confirmed 2,708,940 cases of COVID-19, with the number of deaths at 47,994.

France has recorded 2,447,457 confirmed cases and 59,182 deaths.

It is followed by Turkey with 16,881 deaths from 1,898,447 infections.

The UK's confirmed cases have increased to 1,893,436, with the number of deaths at 65,006, according to the JHU virus tracker.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 65,857 lives in Italy, bringing the total number of infections to 1,870,576.

A total of 1,762,212 people in Spain have tested positive for COVID-19, with the death toll at 48,401.

Argentina has reported 1,510,203 COVID-19 cases and 41,204 deaths from the virus so far.