New COVID-19 cases across the world rose by almost 260,000 in 24 hours, the largest single-day increase witnessed ever since the pandemic began, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday.
It also noted that Saturday was the first time the number of new daily infections rose more than a quarter of a million. This was mainly contributed by increased COVID-19 cases in the US, Brazil, India and South Africa.
It was followed by a record global death toll in more than a month as it rose by 7,360, the largest daily increase since May 10, 2020. This comes just a day after the world had seen a record in daily increase in coronavirus cases.
The overall confirmed cases of coronavirus globally crossed 14 million on Saturday, and 600,000 recorded deaths, according to JHU's tally.
US' new epicenter - Florida
Along with Florida, which is the epicenter of the US Coronavirus epidemic, Texas, and Arizona have seen a high surge in cases. Florida recorded more than 10,000 new infections and 90 deaths on Saturday. The state's tally of cases stood at 337,000, while its death toll is more than 5,000, reported BBC. Hospitals in the state had warned that their ICUs were at full capacity and cannot accept any new patients.
One of the most highly politicized issues in the US is mandatory wearing of masks. The country's top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has recently urged leaders to be "forceful" on people in wearing masks, but President Donald Trump said he will not mandate mask-wearing at the national level.
Other countries
In Brazil, the cases are surging, even after WHO's previous announcement that the country's cases were no longer increasing exponentially.
While in India, experts warned that its peak is months away even as the country has the third-highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases. Cities like Mumbai and Bangalore are almost out of beds for patients.
An epidemic model was proposed by Nobel laureate Michael Levitt, who had accurately predicted China's virus peak and the epidemic's end. The same is applied to India by Bhaskaran Raman, a computer science professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay suggested India's peak of coronavirus death would be over in another 2.5 months with exception in the state of Karnataka where the epidemic has just begun, reported Deccan Herald.
On Saturday, India recorded 34,884 infections in a 24-hour period while adding 671 more COVID-19 deaths. Also, South Africa witnessed its largest single-day rises in coronavirus cases. The country has the highest confirmed infections in the whole of the African continent.
Europe
Western European countries have contained the spread of the novel coronavirus, and are to reopen their borders and their economy.
Spain has witnessed localized spikes, especially the worst-hit region in north-eastern Catalonia. About four million people in Barcelona, La Noguera and El Segrià will be staying at home for the next 15 days, as ordered by the government.
Responding to the surge, France is considering closure of its borders with Spain, which was reopened on June 21, 2020.
