People wait to receive a Covid-19 vaccine in Mumbai, India, on Thursday. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) (CN) — As India suffers a catastrophic wave of coronavirus infections and deaths, the World Health Organization on Friday highlighted South America’s persistently terrible situation as evidence that the pandemic has entered a new horrible phase. The past week has seen the world register a record number of new infections and a steady rise in deaths caused by Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus rampaging around the world. Since April 23, more than 5.8 million new infections were reported around the world with India’s staggering outbreak accounting for many of the new cases. Since the pandemic started, more than 151 million infections have been detected, though the number of infected people is undoubtedly much higher because many cases go undetected or unreported.