Global coronavirus infections exceeded 50 million on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, with a second wave of the virus in the past 30 days accounting for a quarter of the total.
October was the worst month for the pandemic so far, with the United States becoming the first country to report more than 100,000 daily cases. A surge in Europe contributed to the rise.
The latest seven-day average shows global daily infections are rising by more than 540,000.
More than 1.25 million people have died from the respiratory disease that emerged in China late last year.
The pandemic’s recent acceleration has been ferocious. It took 32 days for the number of cases to rise from 30 million to 40 million. It took just 21 days to add another 10 million.
Europe, with about 12 million cases, is the worst-affected region, overtaking Latin America. Europe accounts for 24 per cent of COVID-19 deaths.
The region is logging about 1 million new infections every three days or so, according to a Reuters analysis. That is 51 per cent of the global total.
France is recording 54,440 cases a day on the latest seven-day average, a higher rate than India with a far bigger population.
The global second wave is testing healthcare systems across Europe, prompting Germany, France and Britain to order many citizens back to their homes again.
