Geneva, October 9 (RHC)-- The World Health Organization says worldwide coronavirus cases spiked to a single-day high Thursday, led by exponential rises across much of Europe, which logged nearly 100,000 new cases. Austria, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Spain all reported record or near-record levels of infection Thursday.

This comes as the World Bank warns the pandemic could push 150 million more people around the world into “extreme poverty” by next year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand officials have lifted all social distancing restrictions after declaring victory in their efforts to eradicate a second, small outbreak of coronavirus.