TORONTO -- The World Health Organization said its member nations reported more than 284,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, setting a new record for the highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic.
The UN health agency said more than half of the new confirmed infections were reported in North and South America, with nearly 70,000 new cases reported in the United States and over 67,000 in Brazil.
The U.S. also recorded 1,074 new deaths while Brazil added 1,284. Globally, there were nearly 10,000 new deaths reported on Friday.
Saturday's case numbers were only slightly lower, with 284,083 new confirmed infections, according to the WHO.
At nearly 570,000, Friday and Saturday are by far the highest two-day total for COVID-19 diagnoses yet.
Additionally, parts of Europe and Asia are seeing an increase in new cases amid fears of a more widespread second wave.
The health agency said the upwards trajectory in case numbers is worrying.
"While no country is unaffected, this rise is driven by high transmission in large and populous countries in the Americas and South Asia," the WHO said in a statement.
India reported its highest single-day spike on Friday, with 49,310 new confirmed cases for a total of more than 1.3 million, while Bangladesh, Indonesia and China also saw a surge in new infections.
In Europe, Russia recorded 5,811 new cases while Spain saw an increase of 2,615 infections, causing the country to close its nightlife and beaches in some regions. The rise has also promoted other EU countries to issue new warnings against travel to Spain.
France, Germany, Australia and Japan have also seen a rise in new cases as the nations grapple between staving off new outbreaks and reopening their economies.
There have been more than 15.7 million COVID-19 cases reported globally and more than 640,000 deaths, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. However, with shortages of testing materials across the globe, the WHO says the exact number of COVID-19 cases is unknown.
As of Sunday morning, there are more than 113,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada with 8,885 deaths. More than 99,000 Canadians have recovered from the virus.
