TORONTO -- The World Health Organization (WHO) reported another record single-day number of COVID-19 cases on Sunday as the total topped 200,000 for the fourth day in a row.

The United Nations health agency said Sunday afternoon that it had recorded 230,370 cases of the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, narrowly beating the previous record number from two days earlier.

There had not been more than 200,000 cases detected in one day until July 4. However, at least that many cases have been reported on seven of the nine days since then.

It took the world until April 2 to reach one million confirmed cases of the virus. There have been more than one million cases reported in the last five days alone.

This lends weight to the WHO's repeated refrain that the pandemic is accelerating on a global scale, even as life begins returning to normal in Canada and some other countries.

Speaking to reporters on Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the global number of COVID-19 cases has more than doubled in the past six weeks.

"Across all walks of life, we are all being tested to the limit," he said.

THE HOTSPOTS

According to the WHO's daily update, more than 60 per cent of Sunday's caseload is from North and South America.

The United States is home to more than one-quarter of the daily total of new cases, with the WHO's data showing 66,281 new cases there. Florida alone reported 15,299 new cases – the biggest overall number and largest overall increase of any state on any day during the pandemic, and more than all but three countries.

Another 45,000 cases were reported in Brazil, nearly 29,000 were logged in India, and more than 13,000 came from South Africa, which is quickly becoming one of the world's new COVID-19 hotspots. Canada reported 321 new cases.

Brazil reported the highest number of deaths linked to the novel coronavirus at 1,214, followed by the U.S. at 803, Mexico at665 and India at 551. Ten deaths were reported in Canada.

Deaths are generally believed to lag at least one week behind new case numbers in reflecting a country's true COVID-19 situation.