By Staff, Agencies The pandemic continues spreading across the world, reaching 5,400,000 infected and 345,000 deaths globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States remains the country hardest hit by the virus, while Brazil and Russia are second and third respectively in terms of numbers of infected. At the moment, the highest death tolls are in the US, Great Britain, and Italy.

New York remains the most affected city on the planet, with almost 200,000 infected and 21,216 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.  Many countries have since announced the easing of pandemic-induced restrictions and plan to resume domestic and international travel in the coming weeks.

Germany reported 289 new COVID-19 cases amid significant decline in daily positive tests raising the number to 178,570 cases