Global coronavirus cases exceed 50 million after 30-day spike

LONDON: Global coronavirus infections exceeded 50 million on Sunday, according to a media tally, with a second wave of the virus in the past 30 days accounting for a quarter of the total.

October was the worst month for the pandemic so far, with the United States becoming the first country to report more than 100,000 daily cases. A surge in Europe contributed to the rise.

The latest seven-day average shows global daily infections are rising by more than 540,000. More than 1.25 million people have died from the respiratory disease that emerged in China late last year. The pandemic’s recent acceleration has been ferocious. It took 32 days for the number of cases to rise from 30 million to 40 million. It took just 21 days to add another 10 million.

Europe, with about 12 million cases, is the worst-affected region, overtaking Latin America. Europe accounts for 24% of COVID-19 deaths. The region is logging about 1 million new infections every three days or so, according to a Reuters analysis. That is 51% of the global total.

The global second wave is testing healthcare systems across Europe, prompting Germany, France and Britain to order many citizens back to their homes again. The United States, with about 20% of global cases, is facing its worst surge, recording more than 100,000 daily coronavirus cases on the latest seven-day average, data showed. It reported a record of more than 130,000 cases on Saturday.