The worldwide novel coronavirus cases crossed 40 million, with almost 1.2 million people succumbing to the virus by now, IPN reports.

The countries with the largest number of infections are: the U.S. with over 8.3m, India with more than 7.5m, Brazil with 5.2m and Russia with almost 1.4m.

The death toll form COVID-19 in the U.S. passed 224,700. On October 18 alone, the United States reported almost 45,000 new cases and 448 deaths.

Russia logged almost 24,000 virus deaths, reporting yesterday over 15,000 new cases and 185 deaths.

Romania has got more than 180,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 5,800 virus deaths, while Ukraine reported over 303,000 infections and more than 5,600 deaths.

In the Republic of Moldova, over 67,000 persons contracted the novel coronavirus so far, with the number of casualties associated with COVID-19 standing at 1,584.