According to the Bing COVID-19 Tracker, global confirmed cases of the disease reached 38,925,204 today, up 370,652 from the day before. Active cases number 10,938,898, recovered cases number 26,887,928 and fatal cases have reached 1,098,378, after a one-day gain of 5,514. At the current rate, global deaths will reach 1.1 million within the next 24 hours.

The number of cases continues to rise quickly in the northern hemisphere, where winter is quickly approaching. In some nations in Europe, new daily cases have hit records. With most viruses, the rate of spread rises as people move indoors. This has been true of the flu for decades. At the same time, the southern hemisphere has not posted much improvement. Among the hardest-hit nations in the world are Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru.

The United States remains the country with the most confirmed cases, at 8,016,448, a 62,382 increase in a day. COVID-19 fatalities there stand at 220,164. The rate of the spread has increased sharply in the past two weeks, sparking concern that coronavirus deaths may top 300,000 by year-end. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said the spread will not be arrested until the average daily increase drops to under 10,000 per day, which is a very long way away.

U.S. confirmed cases are concentrated in the largest states. California has 868,211 and Texas has 849,655. In Florida, there are 744,988 cases, and New York has 484,135. This list is the same as the states when ranked by population. Yet, some of the states where COVID-19 is growing fastest have small populations, most notably North and South Dakota. New York continues to have the largest number of coronavirus deaths by far at 32,935, about 15% of the national total.

Brazil Surges to Over 5 Million Confirmed Cases

Brazil now has a confirmed case count of 5,169,386. New cases recently have risen at a rate of 20,000 a day. Its COVID-19 deaths number 152,460. As with India (below), Brazil’s figures are too low. It is nearly impossible to count cases in the nation’s interior. In the poorest parts of the largest cities, packed with impoverished people, the disease is also difficult to track.

Currently ranked second in the world based on confirmed COVID-19 cases, India has 7,372,394. That number grows by nearly 60,000 cases a day, which could put it ahead of the United States before the end of this month. The coronavirus death count in India stands at 112,219. Health care experts say that because of the size of the nation geographically, and its relatively primitive health care systems, more than 60 million people actually have been infected about eight times the official number. The Indian Council of Medical Research puts the figure as high as 63 million.

Russia has 1,369,313 cases, and fatal cases there stand at 23,723. Most experts say that, here too, the death count is far too low to be real. It may be that the government has kept counts down to make it appear it has the pandemic under control.

Vermont Confirmed Cases Still Less Than 2,000

Vermont continues to have the lowest confirmed case count among all states, by far, at 1,903. In second place, Maine’s total is almost three times that at 5,836.

Vermont’s low figure has been attributed to aggressive social distancing and mask-wearing measures. The state has also kept strict rules for quarantining visitors from other states.

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