Washington, Dec 12 (IANS): In yet another grim milestone, the overall number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed the 70 million mark, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.59 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 70,131,911 and 1,592,486, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 15,834,965 and 294,874, respectively, according to the CSSE.

India comes in second place in terms of cases at 9,796,769, while the country's death toll soared to 142,186.

The other countries with more than a million confirmed cases are Brazil (6,781,799), Russia (2,574,319), France (2,405,210), the UK (1,814,395), Italy (1,805,873), Spain (1,730,575), Argentina (1,489,328), Colombia (1,408,909), Germany (1,298,776), Mexico (1,217,126), Poland (1,115,201) and Iran (1,092,407), the CSSE figures showed.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of fatalities at 179,765.

The countries with a death toll above 20,000 are Mexico (113,019), the UK (63,603), Italy (63,387), France (57,671), Iran (51,727), Spain (47,624), Russia (45,370), Argentina (40,606), Colombia (38,669), Peru (36,499), South Africa (22,952), Poland (22,174) and Germany (21,296).