WHO reports largest single-day rise in coronavirus cases so far

This is the first time the number of new daily infections has surpassed 250,000

As economies reopen around the world, the number of new Covid-19 cases has surged, especially in the US, Brazil, India and South Africa.

The World Health Organisation reported that the number of new cases of coronavirus rose by almost 260,000 in 24 hours—the largest single-day rise in new cases since the pandemic began. 

The daily death toll also rose by 7,360 cases, the highest daily increase since May 10.

Europe

While Ireland’s case numbers have slightly increased over the past few weeks (two deaths and 21 new cases were reported yesterday), our numbers remain low compared to other EU countries.

Spain in particular has had a surge in Covid-19 cases, with a total of 260,255 cases reported and one of the highest death tolls in Europe at 28,420. 

It has identified more than 150 new virus clusters across the country, and the government has urged the four million plus residents of Barcelona, La Noguera and El Segrià to remain at home for 15 days.

Other countries with high case numbers include Russia (with a total of 765,437), the UK (293,239), Italy (243,967) and Germany (201,372).

The US

The US remains at the top of the Covid-19 case list with a total of 3,647,715 confirmed cases and 139,266 deaths.

Florida has especially seen a massive rise in cases. The Florida Department of Health reported over 10,000 new cases yesterday, bringing the state’s overall total to 323,002 since the pandemic began.

Other high-case states include California with 366,164—the state has entered a second lockdown—and Texas with 307,572—over 60,000 new cases were reported over the last week.

Going forward

Brazil, India and South Africa have also seen a large increase in case numbers. 

Like in the US, the wearing of face masks in Brazil has been highly politicised, and now its total number of cases has reached a startling 2,046,328.

India reported another 34,884 infections and 671 coronavirus related deaths in a 24-hour period on Saturday, bringing its total number of cases to 1,038,716 and making it the third worst hit country behind the US and Brazil.

South Africa has the highest number of cases on the African continent as well, with a confirmed total of 337,594.

The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases passed 14 million on Saturday, with almost 600,000 recorded deaths.

Discussions in Brussels have continue to take place to devise a post-pandemic economic recovery plan.

Statistics cited from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the CDC Covid Data Tracker

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