Global cases of the novel coronavirus have topped seven million, as case numbers surge in Brazil and India, according to a Reuters tally.

About 30 per cent of those cases, or two million infections, are in the United States. Latin America has the second-largest outbreak with over 15pc of cases.

Globally, deaths from the novel coronavirus are approaching 400,000. The US accounts for about one-quarter of all fatalities but deaths in South America are rapidly rising.