August 31 coronavirus news

By Joshua Berlinger, Adam Renton, Mike Hayes, Meg Wagner and Melissa Macaya, CNN

Updated 12:00 a.m. ET, September 1, 2020
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12:38 a.m. ET, August 31, 2020

More than 25 million people have now been infected by coronavirus

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. 
This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

At least 25,143,423 people have been infected with Covid-19 worldwide since the global pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases Sunday night.

The figures also show that at least 845,414 people have died after contracting the virus.

Case numbers have soared exponentially since they first were reported in China in December 2019. The world recorded 1 million cases more than three months later, on April 2. The tally hit 10 million cases on June 28 and took just six weeks to double.

While the world has learned a great deal about how to control the spread of the virus, governments are starting to lose their grip on the situation once more.

Countries that were hit early in the pandemic saw case numbers dip after they imposed strict rules around social distancing and movement. But the figures are rising fast again as lockdowns are lifted and frustrations among the public lead to a growing backlash against mask-wearing and other restrictions that have led to job losses, economic damage and widening inequality.

As fall approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, doctors are already seeing signs of a dramatic second wave of infection that will be almost impossible to contain until a vaccine is developed and widely distributed -- another step that is already facing fierce opposition.