With cases in Europe declining but numbers quickly growing in the Americas and other hot spots, the global COVID-19 total passed 7 million cases, with deaths topping 400,000.
It took nine days for cases to climb from 6 million to 7 million, the same span it took to move from 5 million to 6 million. The global total currently stands at almost 7,100,000 cases, and approximately 405,000 people have died from their infections, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.
At a media briefing, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said, "Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening." He said over a 24-hour period, 136,000 cases were reported, the world's largest one-day total. He added that 75 percent of the cases were from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia.
Elsewhere, cases are rising in Africa and in some parts of eastern Europe and central Asia, he said. Tedros added, however, that several countries are seeing positive signs—but tempered with complacency. Seroprevalence studies so far suggest that a large portion of populations are still susceptible to the virus.
Tedros urged countries to continue active surveillance for the novel coronavirus, especially given that mass gatherings are starting to resume in some countries. The WHO fully supports equity and the global movement against racism, and Tedros urged protestors to do so safely by physical distancing as much as possible, cleaning their hands, covering coughs, and wearing masks.
