New figures from The World Health Organisation show this is the largest rise since records began – more than 20,000 higher than the previous record.

The previous highest daily figure for new cases was 189,077, which was reported on June 28.

The new cases bring the total of Covid-19 infections worldwide to 10,922,324, with 523,011 people losing their lives to the pandemic.

America, which has the world’s highest death toll, saw the highest number of new infections, with 53,213 recorded in the last day.

This was followed by Brazil – the country with the second-highest number of deaths – which reported 48,105 new infections.

Meanwhile, India saw a further 22,771 people test positive for coronavirus today.

Official figures show the UK government has confirmed 519 cases in this timeframe.

The WHO has warned in the past that comparison between countries could be untrustworthy, as many have different testing capabilities and record figures in different ways.

The latest WHO report said: ‘Caution must be taken when interpreting all data presented.

‘Differences are to be expected between information products published by WHO, national public health authorities, and other sources using different inclusion criteria and different data cut-off times.’

Another 67 people were reported to have lost their lives to the virus in the UK on Saturday, with the official death toll rising to 44,198.

It comes as England eases lockdown restrictions, with pubs, restaurants, cinemas and hairdressers all opening doors on what has been named as ‘Super Saturday’.