According to the latest figures on Tuesday, 100,286,772 people have so far been infected with the novel coronavirus globally, with the deaths reaching 2,149,496 and recoveries amounting to 72,313,625.
The US tops the list in terms of infection and fatality with 25,861,597 cases and 431,392 deaths.
In terms of infections, India comes next (10,677,710), followed by Brazil (8,872,964), Russia (3,738,690), the UK (3,669,658), France (3,057,857), Spain (2,697,294), Italy (2,475,372), Turkey (2,435,247), Germany (2,154,656), Colombia (2,027,746), Argentina (1,874,801), Mexico (1,771,740), Poland (1,478,119), South Africa (1,417,537) and Iran (1,379,286), the figures showed.
The other countries after the US with most deaths are respectively Brazil with 217,712 fatalities, followed by India (153,624), Mexico (150,273), the UK (98,531), Italy (85,881), France (73,494), Russia (69,918), Iran (57,481), Spain (56,208), Germany (53,402), Colombia (51,747), Argentina (47,034), South Africa (41,117) and Peru (39,777).
Over 250 million jobs lost due to pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic took a huge toll on global jobs last year, the United Nations says, with the equivalent of more than a quarter of a billion lost.
In a fresh study, the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) found that a full 8.8% of global working hours were lost in 2020, compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
That is equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs, or "approximately four times greater than the number lost during the 2009 global financial crisis,” the ILO said in a statement.
"This has been the most severe crisis for the world of work since the Great Depression of the 1930s,” ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters in a virtual briefing.
The UN labor agency explained that around half of the lost working hours were calculated from reduced working hours for those remaining in employment.
But the world also saw "unprecedented levels of employment loss" last year, it said.
Official global unemployment shot up by 1.1%, or 33 million more people, to a total of 220 million and a worldwide jobless rate of 6.5% last year.
MR