Coronavirus latest: world hits ‘tragic milestone’ of 5 million Covid-19 cases after WHO reports record daily surge
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The world passed 5 million reported infections on Thursday after the World Health Organisation 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 programme said reaching 5 million cases would be a “tragic milestone”.