Global coronavirus cases surpassed 5 million on Wednesday, with Latin America overtaking the United States and Europe in the past week to report the largest portion of new daily cases worldwide.
Here are the top 10 global developments this morning:
1. Globally, there have been more than 4.96 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 326,000 people died, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 1.7 million people have recovered.
2. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 106,000 cases globally, the highest in a single day yet, raising concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in poor nations.
3. Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak worsened on Wednesday and the South American nation could soon have the second-highest number of cases in the world as the Health Ministry reported 888 new deaths and nearly 20,000 new infections in a single day, pushing the total cases to 291,579 and almost 19,000 deaths.
4. Peru’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 100,000, making it the country with the second-highest number of cases in South America after Brazil. It has more than 3,000 deaths.
5. Mexico has recorded more than 54,000 cases and 5,666 deaths, while Chile has 53,617 cases and 544 deaths.
6. Cambodia has announced the lifting of a travel ban of tourists from Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and the US.
7. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the country won’t be cutting foreign aid due to the coronavirus pandemic, and further relief for poor nations is needed.
8. New Zealand’s prime minister wants employers to consider switching to a four-day work week as a way to promote tourism, which has been hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
9. The Russian military has set up a quarantine facility at a Siberian gold mine where hundreds have been infected with the novel coronavirus.
10. President Donald Trump has threatened to hold up federal funds for two election battleground states of Michigan and Nevada that are trying to make it easier and safer to vote during the coronavirus pandemic.