World Health Organization warns Covid-19 pandemic will be 'a big wave'

The number of coronavirus cases globally has doubled in the past six weeks, a reminder that the pandemic is still accelerating.

Worldwide, the number of infections is currently 16,859,817, the number of deaths from the Corona virus is 661,825 and 10,429,405 cases have recovered, according to Worldometer.

In the past 24 hours, the number of deaths from the virus in the three countries with the most infections in the world, the US, Brazil and India, were all high, at 1,021, 860 and 776 respectively.

Record high death toll in Iran

Iran recorded 235 deaths from the Corona virus within 24 hours, this is the highest number of deaths in one day in this country.

Iranian Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said authorities placed Tehran among 15 of 31 provinces on “red alert” for the virus.

“The situation in Iran is very worrying,” the spokeswoman said, stressing that “the number of daily hospitalizations has approached the peak of the epidemic in March. Tehran, the most populous province, has been put on red alert for the first time since the virus peaked,” Ms. Lari said, calling for strict implementation of health guidelines.

According to France24, red is the highest level on the coronavirus risk scale in Iran. This Middle Eastern country is one of the countries heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Covid-19 infections in Germany increase due to negligence

A lack of awareness is behind the rise in virus cases in Germany, Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, said in his first press conference in weeks.

“We must prevent the virus from spreading rapidly and uncontrollably. The new developments in Germany worry me deeply. The cases increase when we become careless,” Wieler said, Reuters quoted him as saying. He urged people not to disregard social distancing rules.

Over the past seven days, Germany has recorded an average of 557 new infections a day, up from 350 cases a day in early June. The increase is due to increased contact at parties and workplaces, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

With 206,000 confirmed cases and more than 9,000 deaths, Germany wants to avoid a second wave of infections.

Germany – Europe's largest economy – has a much lower number of Covid-19 deaths than its neighbors France and Italy, thanks to widespread testing, a well-equipped health system and strict adherence to social distancing.

The number of new coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia continues to rise

The Philippines' Ministry of Health confirmed 1,678 new cases, marking the 14th consecutive day that the country has recorded more than 1,000 cases of the virus each day. In Hong Kong, China, in the past 24 hours, there were 106 new cases, including 98 local infections. July 28 was the third consecutive day that Hong Kong recorded more than 100 cases.

Indonesia announced 1,748 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of people infected with Covid-19 to 102,051.