COVID-19 cases spike worldwide in highest 1-day increase

May 21, 2020May 21, 2020 The Big Kahuna

iStock/ffikretow By MEGAN STONE, ABC News

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Over the span of 24 hours, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the globe jumped by 106,000. That is the singular largest day increase since the pandemic first originated in Wuhan, China, says WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a Wednesday statement.

Roughly two thirds of all the new cases originated in four separate countries.

Dr. Ghebreyesus also said he was heartened by the response in South Korea, saying the country learned from the prior SARS outbreak and, due to the country’s amped up testing, contact tracing and isolating cases — the country was able to contain the outbreak and prevent further cases from spreading.

Health officials across the globe have been adamant that increased testing and contact tracing is the key to containing the coronavirus.

Because of the country’s stabilized rate of new cases, students are beginning to return to school across the country.

The country reported 11,110 cases, where 10,066 of those sickened have recovered. 263 people have died, reports South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As of Wednesday, the worldwide total is just below five million cases, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

In the U.S., the rate of those sickened by the virus has climbed over 1.5 million with the death toll surpassing 93,000 since the first case was reported in the country on January 22.