NEW YORK, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases topped 500 million on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

       The global case count amounted to 500,074,490, with 6,183,035 deaths worldwide, as of 12:20 p.m. local time (1720 GMT), showed the data.

       The United States reported 80,456,912 cases and 986,019 deaths, both the highest counts around the world, accounting for more than 16 percent of the global cases and more than 16 percent of the global deaths.

       India recorded the world's second largest caseload of 43,036,928, followed by Brazil with 30,161,909 cases as well as the world's second largest death toll of 661,576.

       Countries with more than 15 million cases also include France, Germany, Britain, Russia, South Korea and Italy, according to the university's tally.

       The global caseload reached the grim milestone of 100 million on Jan. 26, 2021, rose to 200 million on Aug. 4, exceeded 300 million on Jan. 6, 2022, and surpassed 400 million on Feb. 8, 2022.