WHO: Record 160k daily Covid cases in past week

GENEVA/WASHINGTON:THE coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said, with the number of daily cases surging beyond a record of 160,000 in the past week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also told a virtual briefing on Wednesday that more than half of all cases recorded since the coronavirus first emerged in China late last year were registered in June.

“For the past week, the number of the new cases has exceeded 160,000 on every single day,” he said, adding that “60% of all cases so far have been reported just in the past month”.

Data showed that the highest number of new daily Covid-19 cases ever recorded came on June 28, when over 189,500 new cases were registered worldwide.

The virus has so far claimed over 511,000 lives and infected more than 10.5 million people.

The US saw more than 52,000 new cases in 24 hours on Wednesday, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed, yet another one-day record as infections surged around the country.

The tracker showed 52,898 new cases, taking the total number since the pandemic reached the US to 2,682,270. The university recorded a 706 new fatalities, taking the total toll to 128,028.

Brazil surpassed 60,000 deaths on Wednesday. A total of 1,038 new fatalities were registered, taking the number of deaths to 60,632. Total confirmed cases were revised to 1,448,753.

In a brief published this week, the WHO reviewed 34 studies on the link between smoking and Covid-19, and noted that smokers represent up to 18% of hospitalised coronavirus patients.