Global cases of the new coronavirus have shot past 1 million with more than 54,000 fatalities.

Reported cases have surpassed 1.03 million globally and nearly 54,500 people have died.

The number of confirmed new cases in South Asia neared 6,000, even as authorities in some cities tightened restrictions on movement and warned lockdowns could be extended in a bid to rein in the pandemic.

Britain is unlikely to relax its stringent lockdown rules until the end of May, a leading government adviser said on Saturday, warning that first the spread of the coronavirus must slow and intense testing must be introduced.

Spain overtook Italy for the first time for the number of confirmed cases, but the overnight death toll fell from the previous day.

Two of the principal U.S. coronavirus hot spots – New York and Louisiana – reported their biggest jumps in COVID-19 deaths yet on Friday, as the White House sent mixed messages on whether Americans should cover their face if they venture outdoors.

New York City alone accounted for more than a quarter of the 7,077 U.S. coronavirus deaths tallied by Johns Hopkins University on Friday. Known U.S. infections, approaching 275,000 cases, made up about 25% of the more than 1 million cases reported worldwide.