COVID-19 records new daily high of 340,000 globally

The daily number of newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the world has surpassed the 340,000 threshold, recording a new record-high. In particular, European nations such as Britain and Italy are becoming the next epicenter of a new wave of spread.

According to real-time world statistics website Worldometer, 348,774 people globally tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. Although the daily new cases increased to 323,393 on Oct. 1 but declined to 256,918 on Oct. 4, it spiked on Wednesday to 343,932 and recorded a new daily high for two consecutive days.

As of Thursday, India (70,824), the United States (56,652) and Brazil (27,182) were the top three countries in the daily number of newly confirmed patients. COVID-19 takes its toll on Latin American nations and India with poorly performing public health systems and severe social and wealth inequalities.

The increasing spread of COVID-19 across Europe is a red flag to the world. Europe saw the largest daily number of new patients or 97,000 on Thursday since the outbreak of the virus, according to Reuters. In particular, Britain saw 17,540 new patients on Thursday, 3,378 up from the previous day's 14,162. The death toll also rose by 77 to go over 42,500. The British government plans to issue the second lockdown order to close restaurants and pubs and ban lodging in other regions early next week, according to the BBC News.

The Italian government on Thursday announced a new administrative ordinance to mandate inbound travelers from Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic to take a COVID-19 test. A total of 4,458 new cases were officially reported in Italy, reaching the 4,000 threshold for the first time in six months since the pandemic picked on April 12. With 18,129 new patients on Thursday, France will order extra lockdowns mainly on elderly citizens.


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