The global death toll from the novel coronavirus has reached 300,000, mark with over 4.42 million cases of infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
Some 1.58 million people have also been cured of the illness, as per US-based tracker.
As of 4 am Friday, the number of people infected globally stands at 4,426,937 with at least 301,370 deaths reported.
The United States has the highest case count in the world, 1,413,012, including 85,581 fatalities.
On Wednesday, the World Health Orgsation (WHO) official, Michael J Ryan said the coronavirus may become another just another virus in the world community like HIV infection, and may never go away.
"This virus just may become another endemic virus in our communities and this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away," Dr Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergencies program was quoted as saying by CNN.
Amid the struggle to deal with COVID-19, scores of countries and institutions are scrambling to create a vaccine to treat the deadly contagion which has brought an unprecedented level of social and economic fallout in a host of nations around the world.
( With inputs from ANI )