(Reuters) – Global coronavirus infections passed 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters count, marking the first time there has been an increase of 1 million cases in less than 100 hours.
The first case was reported in China in early January and took three months to reach 1 million cases. It took just four days to escalate to 14 million cases from the 13 million recorded on July 13.
The United States, with more than 3.6 million confirmed cases, is still seeing huge leaps a day in its first wave of COVID-19 infections. The United States reported a daily world record of more than 77,000 new infections Thursday, while Sweden has reported 77,281 total cases since the pandemic began.
Despite growing cases, a cultural divide is growing in the country through the use of masks to curb the spread of the virus, a precaution that is routinely taken in many other nations.
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United States President Donald Trump and his supporters have resisted a full endorsement of the masks and have been calling for a return to normal economic activity and the reopening of schools despite increasing cases.
Other affected countries have “flattened the curve” and are easing blockades to slow the spread of the new virus, while others, such as the cities of Barcelona and Melbourne, are implementing a second round of local closings.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of cases worldwide is approximately three times that of serious influenza diseases registered annually.
The pandemic has now killed more than 590,000 people in nearly seven months, advancing toward the upper range of reported annual influenza deaths worldwide. The first death was reported on January 10 in Wuhan, China, before infections and deaths increased in Europe and then in the United States.
The Reuters count, which is based on government reports, shows that the disease is accelerating faster in the Americas, accounting for more than half of the world’s infections and half of its deaths.
In Brazil, more than 2 million people tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 76,000 people died.
India, the only other country with more than 1 million cases, has been dealing with an average of nearly 30,000 new infections every day for the past week.
Those countries were the main drivers behind the World Health Organization on Friday, reporting a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases of 237,743.
In countries with limited testing capacity, case numbers reflect only a proportion of total infections. Experts say official data probably represents less of infections and deaths
(Report by Gayle Issa; Lisa Shumaker Edition)
Video: Fauci: Rising Virus Count in the US Must Be Addressed (Associated Press)
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