WHO REPORTS RECORD INCREASE IN GLOBAL CORONAVIRUS CASES FOR SECOND DAY IN A ROW

Sky News 19 July 2020 - by Tom Gillespie, News Reporter

The World Health Organisation reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases for the second day in a row on Saturday as the total rose by 259,848 in 24 hours.

© Getty There has been a record increase in global coronavirus cases

The biggest increases were in the US, Brazil, India and South Africa, according to a daily report.

The previous WHO record for new cases was 237,743 on Friday.

Deaths rose by 7,360 - the biggest one-day increase since 10 May.

Deaths have been averaging 4,800 a day in July, up slightly from an average of 4,600 a day in June.

Total global coronavirus cases surpassed 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 600,000 people in seven months.

The surge means that one million cases were reported in under 100 hours.

The WHO reported 71,484 new cases in the US, 45,403 in Brazil, 34,884 in India and 13,373 in South Africa.

India became the third country in the world to record more than one million cases of the new coronavirus on Friday, behind only the US and Brazil.

Epidemiologists say India is still likely months from hitting its peak.

Cases in Brazil crossed the two million mark on Thursday, doubling in less than a month and adding nearly 40,000 new cases a day.

A patchwork of state and city responses has held up poorly in Brazil in the absence of a tightly-coordinated policy from the federal government.

The US, which leads the world with over 3.7 million cases, has also tried to curb the outbreak at state and local levels with only limited success.