New Delhi: The world is entering “a new and dangerous phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates continue to climb, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
More than 150,000 new cases of the disease were reported on Thursday, the highest single daily total so far.
Most were in the Americas, though “large numbers” came from South Asia and the Middle East.
“The world is in a new and dangerous phase. Many people are understandably fed up with being at home. Countries are understandably eager to open up their societies and economies”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.
“But the virus is still spreading fast, it’s still deadly, and most people are still susceptible,” he said.
Globally, there were nearly 3.4 million cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, including more than 450,000 deaths.
Tedros repeated his call for countries and people to remain vigilant against the disease, and to continue efforts focused on containing the disease, including though testing and contact tracing.