TEHRAN – COVID-19 is surging globally with 37.2 million infections and over 1 million mortalities, haunting countries that had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks.

Although the number of daily new cases had slowed in recent weeks, it is now rising again.

With over 214,000 fatalities, the U.S. has recorded the world’s highest official death toll. It is also fast reaching eight million confirmed cases.

The second-highest official death toll in the world is related to India with over seven million confirmed cases.

In Iraq, the cases have been rising steadily since June, with the country has recorded more than 400,000 cases in total.

A number of European countries have re-imposed lockdowns and other restrictions in their worst-affected regions, and there have been fresh appeals for people to wear face coverings and follow social distancing rules.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the global death toll from COVID-19 could more than double to two million before a successful vaccine is widely used – and could be even higher without concerted action to curb the pandemic.

It says roughly one-in-ten people worldwide may have already been infected but that “the vast majority of the world remains at risk”.

The infection rates are also soaring in Europe as a second wave surges across the continent since France and the Netherlands have reported record highs in daily coronavirus case numbers on Saturday, Spain has declared an emergency in its capital and Germany is focusing efforts on hotspot cities.

A new record in daily cases has been reported in the Netherlands, hitting nearly 6,500 in 24 hours, prompting the government to warn of new restrictions across the country.

In Poland also new daily cases have jumped to 5,000 - a high for the fifth day in a row - while the government resisted closing the schools.

A new all-time record of daily coronavirus cases for Russia has been reported too, with cases having risen by 12,846 on Saturday, pushing the overall number of infections to 1.3 million.

Iran also registered its highest daily death toll with 251 confirmed dead on Sunday.

Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari said this pushes the total confirmed death toll to 28,544, making it the hardest-hit country in the region.

A further 3,822 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours, raising the total nationwide recorded cases to 500,075. While 406,389 have recovered.

Some 4,482 other COVID-19 patients are in critical condition, she said, adding, 4,312,514 coronavirus tests have so far been carried out in Iran.

With all its smallness, COVID-19 challenged global governance to such an extent that even the most important global gathering was inevitably held virtually. So that, it once again reminds all of us members of human society that tackling common global issues is only possible through global participation.

As a global crisis needs global cooperation to be tackled, the coronavirus pandemic showed that in today's world many dangers can cross all boundaries and affect the whole world so that it magnifies the importance of international cooperation.

FB/MG