The global COVID-19 total topped 8 million cases today, driven by accelerating activity in Latin America and other parts of the world, as health officials in Beijing closed schools and ordered lockdowns to curb the further spread of a recently detected cluster.It took only 8 days for the pandemic total to climb from 7 million to 8 million, 1 day less than it took to rise from 6 million to 7 million.
The global number of cases today stands at 8,092,109, and 438,806 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.Hot spots in Latin American border areasAt a Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) media briefing today, its director, Carissa Etienne, MBBS, MSc, said 3.8 million COVID-19 cases have been