NEW YORK, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases amounted to 74,087,090 with 1,646,687 deaths worldwide as of 6:28 p.m. local time (2328 GMT) on Wednesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The United States reported a total of 16,914,853 cases with 307,064 deaths, both the highest counts across the world, followed by India with 9,932,547 cases, and Brazil with 7,040,608 cases as well as the world's second largest death toll of 183,735.

Countries with more than 1.8 million cases also include Russia, France, Turkey, Britain and Italy while other countries with over 52,000 deaths include India, Mexico, Italy, Britain, France and Iran, showed the data.

Global cases hit 70 million on Dec. 11. It took only five days for the global caseload to jump from 70 million to 74 million.

The United States remains the worst-hit nation, accounting for more than 22 percent of the global cases.

On Tuesday, the United States added 3,019 deaths, the third highest daily toll since the pandemic began. Tuesday also marked the 43rd consecutive day with more than 100,000 cases reported daily since November, showed the university's tally.