Global cases of Covid-19 surpassed 7.5 million as infections in developing nations in Africa and rest of the world continued to soar. The continent’s number of confirmed cases doubled from 100,000 to over 200,000n cases in 18 days. It took 98 days to reach 100,000.
In Nigeria, the number of confirmed cases remained at 224 after 8 weeks but by Wednesday June 10, the total number of confirmed cases in the continent’s most populous nation had risen to 14,554. On that day alone, the country recorded 68 cases raising worries that the pandemic could swell even further.
India detected more than 10,000 new cases to overtake the U.K. as the world’s fourth-most-affected nation. The South Asian nation recorded 297,535 infections by Friday, compared to the U.K.’s 292,860, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University. After burgeoning infections in May and June, India now trails only the U.S., Brazil and Russia.
Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased by 22,317 from the same time Wednesday to 2.01 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. The 1.1% increase matched the daily average over the past seven days. Deaths rose 0.9% to 113,407
Houston-area officials said they are “getting close” to reimposing a stay-at-home order and are prepared to reopen a Covid-19 hospital set up but never used at a football stadium as virus cases expand in the fourth-largest U.S. city.
“We may be approaching the precipice of a disaster,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the highest-ranking official in the county that includes Houston. “It’s out of hand right now. The good news is it’s not severe out of hand.” New cases in the state rose 2.3%, up from the 2.2% 7-day average, officials said Thursday.
