WHO: COVID-19 cases hit 209,839 globally, death toll over 8,770

A total of 209,839 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported globally as of 00:00 CET Thursday, with 8,778 deaths worldwide, according to a daily report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) early on Friday.

In the past 24 hours, 16,556 new infections and 828 more deaths from COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, according to the international organization.

It took over three months to reach the first 100,000 confirmed cases, and only 12 days to reach the next 100,000, WHO said.