Washington, Jun 21 (IANS): The total number of global COVID-19 cases has surged to over 8.7 million, while the deaths were nearing 463,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

By Sunday morning, the total number of cases stood at 8,768,285, while the fatalities increased to 463,999, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

With 2,254,630 cases and 119,714 deaths, the US continues with the world's highest number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, according to the CSSE.

Brazil comes in the second place with 1,032,913 infections and 49,976 deaths.

In terms of cases, Russia ranks third (576,162), and was followed by India (395,048), the UK (304,580), Peru (251,338), Spain (245,938), Italy (238,275), Chile (236,748), Iran (202,584), France (196,724), Germany (190,670), Turkey (186,493), Mexico (175,202), Pakistan (171,666), Saudi Arabia (154,233), Bangladesh (108,775) and Canada (102,762), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (42,674), Italy (34,610), France (29,636), Spain (28,322), Mexico (20,781) and India (12,948).