JOHANNESBURG : Countries from the U.S. to South Africa to India were struggling to hold down rising rates of the coronavirus, as global deaths from COVID-19 surged past 600,000 in a sign of how far off the world remains from a return to normalcy.While the U.S.
leads global infections, South Africa now ranks as the fifth worst-hit country in the pandemic with 350,879 cases — roughly half of all those confirmed on the African continent.
Its struggles are a sign of trouble to come for nations with even fewer health care resources.India on Sunday reported a 24-hour record surge of 38,902 new cases, taking the country's total to 1,077,618.