Global COVID cases surpass 5 million
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The world passed five million reported infections yesterday after the World Health Organization (WHO) registered a new daily record number of COVID-19 cases.
The WHO said Wednesday that more than 106,000 virus cases had been reported — the most in a single day since the virus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.
The global death toll neared 330,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, as many rich nations started emerging from lockdowns that have hammered their economies.
“We still have a long way to go in this pandemic,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“We are very concerned about rising cases in low- and middle-income countries.”
Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies program said reaching five million cases would be a “tragic milestone.”
The WHO has come under fire from US President Donald Trump, who accuses it of having mishandled the outbreak and favoring China.
This week Trump threatened to withdraw from the WHO and permanently withhold funding.
Tedros acknowledged having received a letter from Trump, but declined to comment further.
“The answer is simply we have received the letter and are looking into it,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly denounced China for not doing more to stop the virus from spreading across the world.
Late Wednesday, Trump escalated his rhetoric, suggesting that Chinese President Xi Jinping was behind a “disinformation and propaganda attack on the US and Europe.”
“It all comes from the top,” Trump said in a series of tweets. He added that China was “desperate” to have former vicepresident Joe Biden win the presidential race this year.
Meanwhile, Latin America has seen infections surge in recent days and, in some cases, countries have reinstated lockdown measures that had been eased.
Brazil has been hardest hit, logging the third-highest number of cases in the world. Peru, Mexico and Chile have also seen steady increases in infections.
Health officials in Brazil reported 1,179 new coronavirus deaths in a single day, although Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro remains bitterly opposed to lockdowns, having described them as unnecessary over a “little flu.”