The world hit a new benchmark in the COVID-19 pandemic on Monday, surpassing 40 million coronavirus infections, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. With the flu season looming, the rate of new cases in the U.S. and other countries is rising at rates not seen in months.
The disease has killed more than 1.1 million people, including nearly 220,000 in the U.S., which remains the world’s worst-hit country despite having less than 5% of the global population.
A worrying rise in new cases has triggered new shutdowns across Europe, where France, Belgium and the Czech Republic are among the countries seeing a surge in cases. Many of the measures announced this month are local or partial closures, as officials try to avoid the national lockdowns that have wreaked economic havoc in 2020.
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