A COVID-19 patient is transfered to a hospital in New York. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The US tops the world in number of cases (40 million) and number of fatalities (658,000). The US is followed by India and Brazil.

A group of Japanese researchers said on Tuesday that a new mutation of the COVID-19 Delta variant has been seen for the first time in Japan. It’s similar to a strain of the Alpha variant.