On the day New Zealand has announced it is free of Covid-19, with the last active case officially recovered, the world has hit a grim milestone, as it passed seven million cases of the virus worldwide.
The number of officially known cases worldwide stands at 7,006,436, although the figure could be higher as Johns Hopkins University relies on governments supplying data.
The number of Covid-19 deaths worldwide has surpassed 400,000, in just over six months of the pandemic.
The US is currently the country where the pandemic has hit the hardest, with nearly two million confirmed cases and more than a quarter of the global deaths, at 110,503.
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Advertise with NZME.Globally, more than 15 countries have more than 100,000 confirmed cases.
Suspicions of under-reporting by some countries, as well as differing testing rates and criteria means the true number of cases and deaths is considered likely to be much higher.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health has announced that the last remaining active case of Covid-19 has now recovered.
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With 17 days without any new cases, the country is officially free of Covid-19.
Our total number of confirmed cases remains at 1154, which is the number the country reports to the World Health Organisation.
The combined total of confirmed and probable cases remains at 1504.
There have been no additional deaths to report and no one is in hospital.
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Advertise with NZME.Yesterday 800 tests were processed, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 294,848. The Ministry said lower testing volumes were regularly observed over weekends.
