Total COVID-19 infections recorded across the world following the outbreak of the pandemic now stand over 160 million, according to Worldometer tracker.

Meanwhile, more than 3 million people have lost their lives after contracting the SARS-Cov-2 virus.

The United States continues to be the hardest-hit country with the world’s highest number of infections and deaths beyond 33 million and 596,000, respectively.

India, ravaged by a new highly transmissible variant of the virus that has overwhelmed the peninsula’s health system, has followed in the second place with over 23 million of total cases.

India’s cumulative death toll has surpassed 254,000 after a sharp increase of more than 4,200 new fatalities reported on Tuesday.

However, Brazil still has the highest COVID-19 death toll in the world which stands over 425,000.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom, in a statement delivered on Monday, warned that “globally, we are still in a perilous situation.”

The spread of the variants, increased social mixing, the relaxation of public health and social measures, and inequitable vaccination are all driving transmission, he stressed.

The WHO Chief urged countries with a downward trend in cases and with the highest #COVID19 vaccination rates, to strengthen public health capacities, prepare for the possibility of vaccine-evading variants, and for future emergencies.

Meanwhile, the WHO has announced that it had changed its classification of the B.1.617 coronavirus variant first found in India last October from a “variant of interest” to a “variant of concern.”