The latest Word Health Organisation figures show the largest daily increase in cases since the outbreak began.

The World Health Organisation expressed concern about the rising number of new coronavirus cases in poor countries, even as many rich nations have begun emerging from lockdown.

The global health body said 106,000 new cases of infections of the novel coronavirus had been recorded in the past 24 hours, the most in a single day since the outbreak began.

"We still have a long way to go in this pandemic," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference.

"We are very concerned about rising cases in low and middle income countries."