Washington, May 14 (IANS): The global number of coronavirus cases has surged to over 4.3 million, while the death toll was nearing 300,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday morning, the overall number of cases stood at 4,347,015, while the death toll increased to 297,197, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US currently accounted for the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 1,390,406 and 84,119, respectively.

In terms of cases, Russia had the second highest number of infections at 242,271, followed by the UK (230,986), Spain (228,691), Italy (222,104), Brazil (190,137), France (178,184), Germany (174,098), Turkey (143,114) and Iran (112,725), the CSSE figures showed.

Meanwhile, the UK accounted for the second highest COVID-19 deaths worldwide at 33,264.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (31,106), Spain (27,104), France (27,077) and Brazil (13,240).