The deadly Covid-19 across the world has now infected more than 24 million people, with 8.27 lakh people succumbing to the virus that was first reported in late December 2019.

According to Johns Hopkins University, the world has witnessed a total of 24,234,340 confirmed coronavirus cases.

The death count has also surged to 827,110.

The US, the worst-hit country, has 5,832,581 cases. It is followed by Brazil, which has 3,717,156 cases.

The US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has said that the underlying US economy remains solid, but high unemployment could persist for years in the sectors most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

“There’s is still a healthy economy under here, except for this area that’s been directly affected by COVID,” Powell said in a discussion as part of the Jackson Hole central banking conference.

But millions of workers in travel, hotels and restaurants have been directly impacted, which means “a couple of years of… relatively high unemployment.”

People in those industries are “really going to struggle to find work… We need to support them.”

Meanwhile, the European Commission has made a 336 million euros ($396 million) down payment to British drug maker AstraZeneca to secure at least 300 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine.

The deal covers development, liability and other costs faced by the vaccine maker. The EU has also secured an option to buy 100 million additional doses of the vaccine under development.

(With inputs from agencies)