Beijing, China - April 8, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Screenshots of World Health Organization COVID-19 dashboard showing global case count, death toll

FILE: Los Angeles County, California, USA - March 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. Residents waiting in line for vaccination
3. Various of workers preparing vaccine jabs
4. Various of residents getting vaccinated
5. Vaccination center

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6. National flag of Brazil, pedestrians, closed stores

Sao Paulo, Brazil - March 31, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of traffic, closed shop, pedestrians

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8. Indian national flag; buildings

FILE: New Delhi, India - Jan 8-21, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Various of people outside All India Institute of Medical Sciences
10. Sign of COVID vaccination center
11. Various of people at vaccination center
12. Medical worker administering shot to resident
13. Poster reading "COVID-19 vaccine is safe"

Paris, France - March 25, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
14. Various of Eiffel Tower, pedestrians

Paris, France - March 29, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
15. Various of pedestrians, shops

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16. Various of Grand Kremlin Palace; sightseeing boat on river

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17. Various of traffic; pedestrians

Rome, Italy - April 7, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chines mainland)
18. Various of Piazza Navona, pedestrians
19. Various of street, pedestrians, traffic

Berlin, Germany - March 30, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
20. Various of locals, press crew outside vaccination center
21. Board reading "Corona-vaccination center Berlin"
22. Cyclists, pedestrians

Warsaw, Poland - March 24, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
23. Various of traffic, pedestrians
24. Various of tram, people waiting in station
25. Various of ambulances on streets

FILE: Osaka, Japan - Dec 16, 2020 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
26. Various of pedestrians
27. Various of closed shops

The global total of COVID-19 cases continued to rise and reached 132,046,206 as of 15:34 Central European Summer Time (CEST) on Wednesday, with the COVID-19-related death toll topping 2,867,242 globally, according to the latest data released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The United States remained the worst-hit country worldwide, followed by Brazil and India.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 30.9 million on Wednesday, with the death toll exceeding 559,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The country's case count had risen to 30,920,412, with the national death toll reaching 559,086 as of 20:20 Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Wednesday, according to the CSSE tally.

Brazil reported on Wednesday 3,829 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing its total to 340,776, said the Ministry of Health.

The ministry said that there were also 92,625 new COVID-19 infections in the same period of time, for an accumulated total of 13,193,205.

This brought the country's average daily number of deaths in the last seven days to 2,752, the highest in the world, as it also broke the record for daily deaths on Tuesday with 4,195.

Sao Paulo, the most populated state in Brazil, has also been the hardest hit by the virus with 2,576,362 cases and 79,443 deaths.

Meanwhile, at least 21 regional capitals are experiencing a collapse in their health systems due to the lack of beds, especially after the spread of the variant detected in Amazonas, which is more contagious and lethal.

A total of 115,736 new COVID-19 cases were registered in the past 24 hours in India, said official data released by the Federal Health Ministry on Wednesday.

The latest single-day spike, highest so far, took the total tally in the country to 12,801,785.

This is the second time within this week when more than 100,000 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in India. Earlier, 103,558 new cases were reported on Monday.

Besides, as many as 630 deaths took place due to the pandemic since Tuesday morning, taking the total death toll to 166,177, revealed the ministry's data.

There are still 843,473 active cases in the country, while 11,792,135 people have been discharged so far from hospital after medical treatment.

The total death toll in France reached 97,737 as of Wednesday afternoon, according to data released by the health authority on Wednesday. The number of confirmed cases has not been updated, it said, due to a technical glitch.

Hospital admissions for COVID-19 reached 30,904 by Wednesday. A total of 5,279 people with COVID-19 were in intensive care units (ICU), the highest number so far this year and about 15 percent higher than the peak of the second wave last year.

Russia has confirmed 8,294 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 4,606,162, the official monitoring and response center said Wednesday.

The COVID-19 death toll rose by 374 to 101,480 in the past day, while recoveries grew by 9,445 to 4,229,480.

Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 1,585 new cases, taking its total to 1,039,775.

More than 122.3 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

Italy reported 13,708 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing its total cases to 3,700,393, official data showed.

The country reported 627 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number in a single day since January 6, the health ministry said. The death toll has risen to 112,374.

In Germany, a total of 9,677 new infections were confirmed by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Wednesday, bringing Germany's total caseload so far to 2,910,445. The country has so far lost 77,401 people to the disease.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has backed a short-term, strict lockdown to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19, deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer said on Wednesday.

Demmer said the federal government is studying whether unified anti-epidemic measures across the country is necessary.

Poland will extend its partial lockdown until April 18, as the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is stretching the health care system to its limit, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Wednesday.

The partial lockdown was set to expire on April 9 under the original plan.

On Wednesday, Poland reported 14,910 new cases of COVID-19 over a 24-hour period, while 638 people died of the disease, taking the death toll to 55,703. Close to 6.8 million Poles have so far received at least one vaccine dose.

Japan's state broadcaster NHK reported 3,451 newly added cases by 20:15 on Wednesday, the first time the number has exceeded 3,000 since January 30, bringing the total number of cases to 493,448.

Deaths from the virus increased by 30 to 9,313, according to official data reported by the NHK.