More than 463,000 people have died as a result of the new coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 8.75 million people have been confirmed to have the coronavirus around the world and more than 4.2 million have recovered.

Brazil, the world's No 2 hotspot, reports additional 1,022 fatalities as South Africa hits new record of daily cases.

Nearly 50,000 people have died from the coronavirus in Brazil, the world No 2 hotspot, with 1,022 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the country's health ministry. Brazil confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on February 26 and passed 1 million cases on Friday.

The World Health Organization said sequences shared by China show virus from Beijing local cluster matches strains circulating in Europe.

The U.S. had recorded nearly 2.2 million confirmed cases as of Thursday, with a death toll of over 119,000. Infection rate spikes were reported on Friday in several U.S. states, mainly in the South and West a day before President Trump's Oklahoma campaign rally, America's largest indoor gathering in months.

Brazil has passed the bleak milestone of one million coronavirus cases and approached 50,000 deaths on Friday, making the Latin American country the second worst-hit country in the world following the U.S.

WHO warned Friday of a "new and dangerous phase" of the coronavirus pandemic with people tiring of lockdowns despite the disease's accelerating spread.

UK's COVID-19 alert level has been lowered from level 4 (A COVID-19 epidemic is in general circulation; transmission is high or rising exponentially) to level 3 (A COVID-19 epidemic is in general circulation).

South Africa has announced nearly 5,000 new coronavirus cases for a new daily record. The country has recorded a total of 92,000 confirmed cases, which is about 30 percent of all cases across the African continent. At least 1,877 people have died in the country.

Source: Aljazeera/ CGTN