The World Health Organisation on Saturday reported the highest single-day increase in global COVID-19 infections since the pandemic broke out in December 2019.
According to the W.H.O. reported a total of 259,848 cases in 24 hours with the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa recording the biggest jumps in cases.
The United States reported 71,484 new cases, Brazil reported 45,403 cases; India reported 34,884 cases while South Africa reported 13,373 cases.
A number of states in the U.S. are witnessing surges in the number of COVID-19 cases, especially the southern states which were slow to respond to the pandemic in ways such as introducing lockdowns and making the wearing of masks mandatory.
Meanwhile, South Africa, Africa’s worst-affected country, is now fifth on the global list of countries worst hit by the pandemic. It accounts for almost 50 percent of Africa’s COVID-19 cases.
Saturday’s figures surpassed Friday’s total of 237,743 new cases reported by the W.H.O.
In addition to a record highest single-day spike, the W.H.O. also reported the biggest number of single-day COVID-19-related fatalities at 7,360.
This figure represents the biggest number of daily fatalities since May 10.
As of July 18, there are more than 14 million confirmed COVID-19 cases globally and more than 600,000 recorded deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
