The World Health Organisation has warned of a “new and dangerous phase” of the coronavirus pandemic.
The warning came on Friday as infections continued to surge in the Americas.
Brazil registered more than one million cases.
Colombia and Mexico also passed bleak milestones, as their death tolls topped 2,000 and 20,000, respectively.
The statistics shows how the virus continues ravaging the Americas and parts of Asia even as Europe starts to ease out of lockdown.
The measures imposed to halt the spread of the disease have caused crippling economic damage.
WHO however warned against giving in to isolation fatigue.
“The world is in a new and dangerous phase”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.
“Many people are understandably fed up with being at home… but the virus is still spreading fast,”
The virus has now killed more than 458,000 people and infected 8.6 million worldwide.
A coronavirus vaccine remains months off at best despite several trials.
Scientists are still making daily discoveries about the virus, its symptoms and the extent to which it may have spread before being identified.
Brazil
Brazil, which has the second-highest number of infections and deaths after the United States, reported a one-day record of nearly 55,000 new infections, becoming the second country to pass one million cases.
The health ministry said the jump was caused by “instability” in its reporting system, which delayed previous days’ figures for some states.
Brazil’s death toll now stands at nearly 49,000, and has risen by more than 1,000 each of the past four days — though its curve finally appears to be starting to flatten.
AFP