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At more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours, the World Health Organization today reported the largest single-day increase in cases of coronavirus by its count.
The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied, and the US next at 36,617. Over 15,400 were recorded in India.
Experts said rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as broader infection.
Overall during the pandemic, WHO reported 8,708,008 cases – 183,020 in the last 24 hours – with 461,715 deaths worldwide, and a daily increase of 4743.
More than two-thirds of those new deaths were reported in the Americas.
USA
A new daily high of 478 has been set by the number of newly confirmed coronavirus cases in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma State Department of Health today announced total confirmed cases increased from 10,037 a day earlier to 10,515.
The state’s previous record of 450 new cases in one day was set Thursday.
Arizona has now passed the 50,000 mark in confirmed COVID-19 cases after reporting 2952 new ones.
Arizona reported record new cases numbering 3109 yesterday, 3246 on Friday and 2519 on Thursday. Health officials have attributed the increases to wider testing and to community spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, Florida has reported nearly 3500 more new coronavirus cases as public health officials reissued advisories urging social distancing.
The number of new cases reported today was a drop from the record high of 4000 reported the day before.
South Korea
South Korea continues to struggle to contain a resurgence in the coronavirus that has seen some of the country’s hard-won pandemic gains erased since social distancing rules were eased in mid-April.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 48 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national caseload to 12,421 infections, with 280 deaths.
The agency says 24 of the new cases are in the Seoul region, which has been the centre of the country’s outbreak since late May.
Ten of the new cases, however, are from the central city of Daejeon, indicating the virus is beginning to spread more broadly.
Spain
Spain’s national state of emergency has ended after three months of restrictions on movement to rein in its COVID-19 outbreak.
As of Sunday (local time), 47 million Spaniards will be able to freely move around the entire country for the first time since the government declared a state of emergency on March 14. The lockdown measures have been rolled back gradually over recent weeks.
Travellers from European countries, including Britain, can also enter Spain now without having to quarantine for 14 days.
That quarantine rule still applies to non-Schengen countries, except for the UK. Spain is hoping it can save part of its summer tourist season, which provides a huge part of its economic activity.
Spaniards are still obliged to wear face masks both indoors and outside when in public spaces where it is impossible to guarantee a distance of 1.5 metres from others.
China
Chinese authorities reported 25 new confirmed cases – 22 in Beijing and three in neighbouring Hebei province.
They say 2.3 million people have been tested in an effort to contain the outbreak in the capital that led to the closure of its biggest wholesale food market.
China, where the outbreak began in December, had eased controls on travel and business as new cases fell. But monitoring and some other restrictions have been re-imposed following the recent jump in infections.
The Beijing health commission gave no details of where the latest cases might have originated.
UK
No new coronavirus deaths have been recorded in Scotland or Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, according to official figures, more evidence that the spread of COVID-19 is slowing in the UK.
The government said today that 43 deaths were recorded in all settings across the UK in the past 24 hours, bringing the country’s official pandemic death toll to 42,632.
The daily COVID-19 mortality figure is one of the country’s lowest on record, though numbers often fall on weekends because of delays in registering deaths.
Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government will weigh possible steps to halt the spread of the coronavirus after Israel saw a major uptick in new confirmed cases in recent days.
Israel has over 20,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with new cases jumping by more than 300 in recent days. At least 305 people have died with COVID-19 since the country’s outbreak began in March.
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Italy
Italy’s Health Ministry is asking government advisers to evaluate new World Health Organisation recommendations that people with COVID-19 can come out of isolation even before they test negative for the virus.
The WHO last week said patients who spent 10 consecutive days in isolation with symptoms can be released if they then are symptom-free for at least three days.
Previously, WHO recommended ending the isolation of infected people only after they tested negative twice on samples taken 24 hours apart.
