People wear face masks in Milan, Italy (Photo: AFP)

More than 178 million patients have fully recovered.

More than 640,000 new cases have been recorded worldwide for the last 24 hours.

The US reported the highest number of COVID-19 new infections, followed by India and Indonesia. Nearly 9,300 died of the coronavirus, with Brazil topping the list with 886 deaths, followed by Russia, India, and the US.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as being as transmissible as chickenpox and cautioned it could cause severe disease.