This archive report was first published on 20 July 2020.
Published on July 20, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases for the second day in a row.
The total number of cases rose by 259,848 in 24 hours, with the biggest increases reported from the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa.
According to the WHO's daily report, the previous record for new cases was 237,743 on Friday, and deaths rose by 7,360, the biggest one-day increase since May 10.
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 14 million on Friday, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 600,000 people in seven months.
The surge in cases means that 1 million cases were reported in under 100 hours, with the United States, Brazil, and India being the top three countries with the highest number of cases.
India became the third country in the world to record more than 1 million cases of the new coronavirus, behind only the United States and Brazil, with epidemiologists saying India is still likely months from hitting its peak.
Cases in Brazil crossed the 2 million mark on Thursday, doubling in less than a month and adding nearly 40,000 new cases a day, with a patchwork of state and city responses holding up poorly in the absence of a tightly coordinated policy from the federal government.
