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Antibody treatment for covid-19 1:20
(CNN) - New cases of coronavirus are increasing faster than ever worldwide, at a rate of more than 100,000 per day on an average of seven days.
In April, new cases never exceeded 100,000 in one day, but since May 21, there have only been fewer than 100,000 in five days, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Recently reported cases peaked at 130,400 on June 3.
The increase in case rates may be partly explained by increases in test capacity, but there is not yet enough evidence to capture an accurate image in many countries.
Epidemics from different nations have followed different trajectories. The number of new cases has slowed in many of the countries that were hit hard before in the pandemic, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and France.
But in many countries, particularly South America, the Middle East, and Africa, the transmission rate still appears to be accelerating, according to a CNN analysis of the Johns Hopkins University data.
In Libya, Iraq, Uganda, Mozambique and Haiti, data shows that the number of known cases doubles every week. In Brazil, India, Chile, Colombia and South Africa, cases double every two weeks.
“The Americas continue to represent the majority of cases. For several weeks, the number of cases reported every day in the Americas has been greater than the rest of the world, "said the director general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
"We are especially concerned with Central and South America, where many countries are witnessing accelerated epidemics."
Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO executive director of the Health Emergencies Program, said he did not believe that Central and South America had reached their peak of transmission.
The share of global deaths also continues to rise in South America and the Caribbean.
Brazil recorded more than 30,000 new cases on Thursday, bringing them to almost 615,000 in total, along with 1,473 new deaths, bringing its total deaths to more than 34,000.
Those case numbers are second only to those in the US, where just under 1.9 million cases and 108,211 deaths have been reported. At its peak, the United States saw an increase of more than 30,000 new cases per day; As of Friday, it recorded about 21-000 news cases and 942 deaths daily per day for an average of seven days.
Since then, several countries that surpassed their initial peak, such as South Korea, Germany, and China, have seen new clusters of infections after movement restrictions were reduced, raising fear of a second wave.
Authorities in 214 countries and territories have reported about 6.6 million covid-19 cases and 391,000 deaths since China reported its first cases to the WHO in December.
The actual cost of the virus is likely to be worse than the numbers show, as mild or asymptomatic infections are often not diagnosed.