A healthcare worker wheels a stretcher into the emergency room at Lenox Health Greenwich Village during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York, the United States, May 26, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

- Global deaths surpass 550,000 -- Johns Hopkins University

- Britain's COVID-19 deaths rise to 44,602

- Ghana's COVID-19 cases exceed 23,000

- COVID-19 cases nearing 9,000 in Kenya

- Singapore reports 125 new COVID-19 cases, tally hits 45,423

BEIJING, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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NEW YORK -- Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 550,000 on Thursday, reaching 550,440 as of 10:33 a.m. local time (1433 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, the total COVID-19 cases around the world rose to 12,081,232 according to the CSSE.

A woman walks past the Apollo Theater wrapped with pink tapes in London, Britain, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

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LONDON -- Another 85 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 44,602, the British Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.

The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

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ACCRA -- Ghana's number of COVID-19 infections increased to 23,463, with 641 new cases confirmed on Thursday, said the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The number of persons discharged after treatment increased to 18,622, as authorities discharged 1,058 positive cases under treatment, said the Director-General of the GHS Patrick Kuma-Aboagye during the bi-weekly COVID-19 press briefing on Thursday.

Residents walk through a fumigation bay set up to help in curbing the spread of COVID-19, in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, June 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Nyalwash)

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NAIROBI -- Kenya's total number of COVID-19 cases neared 9,000 mark on Thursday after the country confirmed 447 positive cases, the highest daily tally since the virus was reported in March, the health ministry said.

Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, said the latest infections are from 3,803 samples tested in the last 24 hours.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 125 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 45,423.

Of the new cases, one is imported, 21 are community cases and the rest are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

Visitors wearing face masks feed a giraffe in the Singapore Zoo in Singapore, on July 6, 2020. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua)

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COLOMBO -- The number of COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka surpassed 2,100 on Thursday after 57 new patients tested positive for the virus, the government information department said in a statement.

According to the statement, the new patients included 56 inmates from a drug rehabilitation center in Kandakadu in north central Sri Lanka while one was a female instructor at the center who was on leave and residing in Marawila, in the northwestern province.

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GENEVA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) chief announced on Thursday to launch an independent panel to review its handling of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the response by member states.

The panel will be co-chaired by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who will choose the members, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his virtual address to WHO member states.

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BEIJING -- China on Thursday refuted United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks in which he claimed China had not told the world the truth about COVID-19, saying the remarks had once again exposed Pompeo's nature of lying and cheating.

"Speaking of credibility, the United States, under the banner of 'America first', had repeatedly deserted its own international commitments and obligations, frequently withdrawn from treaties and quit international organizations, and had become the biggest troublemaker in recent years," said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a news briefing. ■