The global tally for coronavirus cases rose to more than 7 million with 405,000 deaths as of Monday, including 45% of the cases in just the United States, Brazil and Russia as those nations seek to ease lockdowns.
Another 3.1 million people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University and Google data trackers.
This time it took nine days for the world to add another 1 million cases. The 6 million mark was reached on May 31. Ten days earlier, the world crossed the 5 million mark on May 21. Before then, the 4 million and 3 million thresholds were each reached within 12 days.
"Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening," the World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a news media briefing. "More than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days. Yesterday, more than 136,000 cases were reported, the most in a single day so far."
Tedros said almost 75% of the cases reported on Sunday came from 10 countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia. The number of cases was still rising in parts of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa, but most African countries still had less than 1,000 cases.
The overall number of cases in Europe was declining, as cases were growing in the Americas and other hot spots. Britain had more than 287,000 cases and 40,000 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe. Italy had 234,000 cases and 33,000 deaths, while Spain had 241,000 cases and 27,000 deaths. India overtook them in terms of cases, 258,000, but not in the number of deaths, 7,000.
Other nations such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Mexico, Iran, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all reported more cases than in China, where the virus was first detected in late December. It reported 84,00 cases and 4,000 deaths.
"At the same time, we’re encouraged that several countries around the world are seeing positive signs," Tedros said. "In these countries, the biggest threat now is complacency. Results from studies to see how much of the population has been exposed to the virus show that most people globally are still susceptible to infection."
Tedros advised nations to keep actively monitoring for the coronavirus, especially with widespread protests over racial injustice and other large-scale gatherings occurring around the world. WHO said it fully supports the global movement againce systemic racism, but urged protesters to use social distancing as much as possible while also wearing masks, covering coughs and sneezes, and cleaning hands.
"More than six months into this pandemic, this is not the time for any country to take its foot off the pedal," Tedros emphasized. "This is the time for countries to continue to work hard, on the basis of science, solutions and solidarity."
