MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection worldwide crossed the 12-million benchmark on Thursday, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The organization, which calculates its own statistics on the basis of data obtained from international organizations, federal and local authorities, said 12,007,327 people have contracted the disease worldwide, and 548,799 of them died.

The United States is the hardest-hit country, with some 3,051,427 cases, followed by Brazil (1,713,160) and India (742,417).

Russia is ranked fourth. According to the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center, it has 700,792 cases of the infection, and 10,667 of them fatal.