Coronavirus: Hundreds infected in outbreak linked to South Korean church

World updates: Lebanon must shut down for two weeks as infections surge, minister says

Health officials disinfect streets around Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk, Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA
Health officials disinfect streets around Sarang Jeil Church in Seongbuk, Seoul, South Korea. Photograph: Yonhap/EPA

More than 21.77 million people have now been reported to have been infected by the novel coronavirus globally and at least 770,091 have died from the virus, according to a Reuters tally.

Here are updates from across the world on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Europe

The UK recorded on Monday 713 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, official data showed, the first time the UK’s daily infection figure has dropped below 1,000 new cases in six days. Three more people in the UK have died from the disease.

Italy is to shut discos and clubs and make it compulsory to wear a mask outdoors in some areas during the night time in a major reimposition of restrictions as cases of coronavirus pick up across the country.

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Spain reported on Monday a total of 1,833 new infections in the past 24 hours, bringing its seven-day total to 32,329 new cases.

Four more Spanish regions imposed new laws intended to curb the spread of the virus, including closing nightclubs and obliging bars and restaurants to shut by 1am, joining two that began applying the measures – which also include limits on visits to retirement homes – on Sunday. Meanwhile, the northern Basque region on Monday declared a health emergency, allowing it to impose even tougher restrictions because of the risk of what authorities described as a “tsunami” of infections.

Hundreds of people gathered in Madrid on Monday to protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in every public space in Spain.

The Czech government will make the wearing of face masks compulsory again from September 1st on public transport and in many indoor public venues following a resurgence of coronavirus infections and ahead of what it expects to be a tough autumn. The Czech Republic was among the first countries in Europe to order people to wear masks in most public places in March but had gradually lifted the requirement as infections fell in late spring. But infections have again started to trend higher

The new rules will require people to wear face masks in shops, common areas of schools and in public buildings, although not in the workplace or in restaurants and bars.

Meanwhile, France, where Monday's new infections figure was 493, well down on the 3,000-plus reported on the two previous days, is to propose that masks be worn in shared workspaces.

Oceania and Asia

Australia reported its deadliest day of the pandemic on Monday, with 25 deaths in the southern state of Victoria, which has been particularly hard hit by a substantial outbreak of the virus. All but three of the victims were linked to outbreaks in care homes for the elderly. More than 300 people have now died since the beginning of this Victoria outbreak in June.

The leader of Australia's New South Wales state apologised for failing to stop people carrying the virus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March.

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has delayed the country's national elections by four weeks as it deals with a new coronavirus outbreak in its largest city, Auckland.

The election had been scheduled for September 19th but will now be held on October 17th, Ms Ardern announced on Monday.

China reported no new local coronavirus cases in the western region of Xinjiang, according to national data, marking the first time the area's new case count was zero since mid-July. Nationally there were 22 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for August 16th, compared with 19 new cases a day earlier, the Chinese health authority said.

India’s death toll from the virus surpassed 50,000, as infection numbers surged and the total number of cases recorded in the country reached nearly 2.65 million.

South Korea warned on Monday of tighter coronavirus restrictions as new outbreaks appeared, including one linked to a church where more than 300 members of the congregation have been infected but hundreds more are reluctant to get tested. The outbreak linked to the Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul is the country's biggest in nearly six months and led to a tightening of social distancing rules on Sunday.

Middle East

Lebanon must shut down for two weeks after a surge in infections, its caretaker health minister said, as the country reels from the massive Beirut port blasts.

Saudi Arabia’s public schools will teach via distance learning as a precaution against coronavirus for the first seven weeks of the new term starting on August 30th, its minister of education said.

Turkey’s coronavirus count rose by 1,233 on Monday, its highest daily level since June, with total deaths nearing 6,000, according to the Turkish government, which rolled out new inspection and enforcement measures earlier this month.

Americas

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday said the US had now recorded a total of 5,382,125 confirmed coronavirus cases, an increase of 41,893 cases from its previous count.

The US surpassed 170,000 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials there expressed concerns over Covid-19 complicating the forthcoming flu season.

Bolivia surpassed 100,000 cases on Sunday, the country's health ministry reported, predicting that the virus would reach its peak there in September.– Agencies