New Delhi: The World Health Organization has sent out a telling warning to all nations around the world stating that the Covid-19 pandemic is entering a "new and dangerous" phase. The UN Body's statement came at the back of Thursday witnessing a sharp rise in number of coronavirus cases worldwide, the most cases in a single day reported to the WHO.

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Thursday saw 150,000 fresh COVID-19 cases emerge globally, with half of those being reported from the Americas and a significant number also from the Middle East and South Asia, the BBC reported. Ghebreyesus added that the virus was still spreading fast and the pandemic accelerating.

He acknowledged the fact that citizens around the world might be fed up with self-isolating and countries were keen to open up their industries to resume economic activities but he said that now was a time for extreme vigilance.

Maria van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Covid-19 response, told a press conference the pandemic is "accelerating in many parts of the world".

"While we have seen countries have some success in suppressing transmission and bringing transition down to a low level, every country must remain ready," she said.

Mike Ryan, the head of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said that some countries had managed to flatten the peak of infections without bringing them down to a very low level.

"You can see a situation in some countries where they could get a second peak now, because the disease has not been brought under control," he said.

"The disease will then go away and reduce to a low level, and they could then get a second wave again in the autumn or later in the year."