Washington, May 26 (IANS): The overall number of global coronavirus cases was nearing the 5.5 million mark, while the deaths have increased to more than 346,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Tuesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 5,494,287, while the death toll increased to 346,229, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US is also reaching a grim milestone of 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Currently, the country has 1,662,302 confirmed cases and 98,218 deaths, both tallies account for the highest in the world, according to the CSSE.

In terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 374,898 infections.

This was followed by Russia (353,427), the UK (262,547), Spain (235,400), Italy (230,158), France (183,067), Germany (180,600), Turkey (157,814), India (144,950), Iran (137,724), and Peru (123,979), the CSSE figures showed.

Meanwhile, the UK ranked second after the US with 36,996 COVID-19 deaths, the highest fatalities in Europe.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (32,877), France (28,460), Spain (26,834), and Brazil (23,473).