Global coronavirus cases surge past 60 million
- The United States records 200,000 new cases and more than 2,400 deaths in its latest daily count
- Rising cases have seen countries around the world impose new restrictions in recent weeks
Germany announced on Wednesday that it will push for Europe to ban ski holidays in a bid to curb coronavirus infections, while cases of Covid-19 reached a new peak of more than 60 million globally.
The prospect of Christmas behind closed doors rather than on the slopes stretched before Europeans as Americans faced their own gloom, recording the highest daily death toll from the virus in six months on the eve of a subdued Thanksgiving holiday.
It took just 17 days to go from 50 million cases to 60 million, compared with the 21 days it took to go from 40 million to 50 million. Around 580,000 cases have been reported each day over the past week and around half of all cases since the start of the pandemic were reported over the past 70 days.
In Europe, 1 million new cases were recorded over just five days, for a total of more than 16 million cases, including 365,000 deaths.
The global death toll has passed 1.4 million and the US has the highest tally with more than 262,000 deaths.
02:11
Americans get coronavirus tests ahead of Thanksgiving family visits as US cases spike
