A patient with symptoms related to Covid-19 is brought to a field hospital by workers in full protective gear in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / AP
A patient with symptoms related to Covid-19 is brought to a field hospital by workers in full protective gear in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo / AP
The number of new daily cases of Covid-19 globally hit a record high on Sunday, the World Health Organisation said.
The UN agency warned the pandemic appeared to be worsening, and has urged countries that had seen improvement to remain vigilant.
"More than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a briefing overnight. "Yesterday, more than 136,000 cases were reported – the most in a single day so far."
SOUTH AMERICA THE 'NEW EPICENTRE'
Dr Tedros said three-quarters of the new cases came from just 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia.
The WHO recently deemed South America the "new epicentre" for infections, with Brazil leading the continent in cases.
Brazil alone currently has the world's second-highest number of cases after the United States, with over 670,000 people infected since the pandemic began.
The country's far-right government has been accused of censorship after it stopped releasing its Covid-19 figures, and wiped an official site clean of data.
Its leader Jair Bolsonaro faces increasing global criticism for his response to the pandemic, and his insistence on prioritising the country's economy over the health crisis.
He has also been slammed for downplaying the pandemic, having infamously compared it to a "little flu", and for touting an antimalarial drug as a cure for the virus despite inconclusive scientific evidence.
The United States is also expected to see a boom in cases following weeks of protests over racial injustice.
Dr Tedros gave a special message to those protesting on the streets, calling for demonstrators to practice social distancing, wear masks, wash their hands, cover their coughs and stay home if they are sick.
"We continue to urge active surveillance to ensure the virus does not rebound, especially as mass gatherings of all kinds are starting to resume in some countries," he said.
"The WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds. We encourage all those protesting around the world to do so safely."
'THE BIGGEST THREAT NOW IS COMPLACENCY'
Dr Tedros issued an appeal to countries that had been seeing positive signs, warning them that "the biggest threat now is complacency".
Cases in Europe are beginning to stabilise. The continent has recorded more than 175,000 deaths since the virus emerged in China last December, including more than 40,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, and a combined total of 90,000 in France, Italy and Spain.
Relatives attend the burial of 57-year-old Paulo Jose da Silva, who died from the new coronavirus, in Rio de Janeiro. Photo / AP
The pandemic has infected more than seven million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University figures, with more than 400,000 deaths. More than a quarter of the deaths have been in the United States.
WARNINGS OF DEEPEST RECESSION SINCE WWII
The Covid-19 pandemic will see the global economy plunged into its deepest recession since the second world war, and force "many millions" more people into extreme poverty, according to the World Bank's latest economic outlook.
Global output will shrink by 5.2 per cent in 2020, economic activity among advanced economies is expected to shrink 7 per cent, and emerging economies will contract by 2.5 per cent – the steepest fall in 60 years.
"Per capita incomes are expected to decline by 3.6 per cent, which will tip millions of people into extreme poverty this year," the report said.
