Washington, Dec 6 (IANS): The overall number of global coronavirus cases has crossed the 66 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.52 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Sunday, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 66,460,498 and 1,527,972, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 14,575,623 and 281,134, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 9,608,211, while the country's death toll soared to 139,700.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (6,577,177), Russia (2,410,462), France (2,334,626), the UK (1,710,379), Italy (1,709,991), Spain (1,684,647), Argentina (1,459,832), Colombia (1,362,249), Germany (1,170,095), Mexico (1,168,395), Poland (1,054,273) and Iran (1,028,986), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 176,628.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (109,456), the UK (61,111), Italy (59,514), France (55,073), Iran (50,016), Spain (46,252), Russia (42,228), Argentina (39,632), Colombia (37,633), Peru (36,195) and South Africa (22,067).