The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is a long way from being over amid the largest daily rise in global cases.
The WHO said 106,000 new cases had been reported to them in the last 24 hours.
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has expressed particular concern about rising infections in low and middle-income nations.
The warning comes as the total number of cases approach five million.
The grim milestone looks set to be reached less than two weeks after the world hit the four million mark.
Experts warn the true number of infections is likely to be far higher, with low testing rates in many countries skewing the data.
More than 326,000 people are known to have died with coronavirus around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University tracking.
The US remains the worst-hit country, with more than 1.5m cases and 92,000 deaths so far.
"In the last 24 hours, there have been 106,000 cases reported to WHO - the most in a single day since the outbreak began," Dr Tedros told a Wednesday news conference.
"Almost two-thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries," he added.
(Source: BBC News)