Active coronavirus cases worldwide hit 5.5 million: Live updates

• More than 12 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus disease, also known as COVID-19, and at least 548,700 have died, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. About 6.5 million patients have recovered. The US and Brazil have reported the most cases and the highest death tolls.

• The humanitarian group Oxfam says that as many as 122 million people could go hungry this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, warning that up to 12,000 people could die each day from hunger linked to the social and economic impacts of the disease.

• The United States has now confirmed more than three million cases of coronavirus. The outbreak is surging in several southern and western hotspots.

• Dr Antony Fauci, the leading US infectious disease expert says he is cautiously optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine with some degree of effectiveness will be successfully developed by the end of the year or the beginning of 2021.

Here are the latest updates.

Thursday, July 9

01:48 GMT – South Africa prepares 1.5 million gravesites as coronavirus cases rise

A health official in South Africa’s new coronavirus hot spot of Gauteng province says authorities are preparing over 1.5 million gravesites as confirmed cases rise, AP news agency reported.

Bandile Masuku, a medical doctor and member of the province’s executive council, said it was the public’s responsibility to make sure the gravesites were not needed.

“It’s an uncomfortable discussion,” he said. Gauteng province includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.

The number of confirmed virus cases in Gauteng is now over 71,000, or 33 percent of South Africa’s cases. The country has more than 215,000 confirmed cases and is posting some of the world’s highest daily totals of newly reported cases.

01:25 GMT – Chile to ease coronavirus lockdown in two southern regions

Chile will begin easing lockdown measures in two southern regions on Monday with 800,000 people able to resume some of their activities and those over 75 able to go out once a day.

Restaurants, cinemas, theaters and cafes will be allowed to open at 25% capacity. Sporting activities can be carried out without an audience and can include up to 10 people in enclosed spaces and 50 in the open.

The new measures will apply in the Los Ríos and Aysén regions in the country’s south. If a new outbreak occurs in either region, the government said tighter restrictions will be considered.

The number of people with confirmed infections of the new coronavirus surpassed 300,000 in the South American country, the sixth highest figure in the world.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Read all the updates from yesterday here.