Geneva, Jul 5 (IANS): The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a record hike in the number of global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours in the highest single-day increase since COVID-19 broke out.

The biggest increase was reported in the Americas region with 129,772 new cases, Xinhua news agency quoted the WHO as saying on Saturday.

It further said that nearly half of the new cases were recorded in the US and Brazil, with 53,213 and 48,105 new infections, respectively.

The Southeast Asia region recorded the second largest surge with 27,947 new cases and 534 deaths over the past 24 hours, the WHO added.

According to the Johns Hopkins University, the overall number of global COVID-19 cases stood at 11,199,747 on Sunday, while the deaths have soared to 528,953.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities with 2,838,678 and 129,672, respectively, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

Brazil came in the second place with 1,539,081 infections and 63,174 deaths.