A Lesotho health official measures temperatures of motorists as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Maseru bridge in in Maseru, Lesotho, on March 10, 2020. (MOLISE MOLISE / AFP)

MEXICO CITY / BOGOTA / RIO DE JANEIRO / BRASILIA / PARIS / WASHINGTON / ZURICH / ROME / OTTAWA / CAIRO / LONDON / ATHENS / WARSAW / NICOSIA / HELSINKI / NAIROBI / BUCHAREST / BISSAU / BERLIN / KAMPALA / MOSCOW / DUBLIN / MADRID / KIEV / JOHANNESBURG - Lesotho recorded its first case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, becoming the last country in Africa to be afflicted by the virus.

The ministry said it had conducted 81 tests for COVID-19 from travellers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia, of which one was positive. It was awaiting for results from 301 other tests.

The remote, high-altitude kingdom, nestled in a South African mountain range, had previously been spared the coronavirus, although its bigger, more industrialised neighbour has recorded more than 10,000 cases.

As at 1245 GMT, Africa had 69,764 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 2,421 deaths and 23,857 recoveries, according to a Reuters tally based on government statements and World Health Organization data.

Germany 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) talks to German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (right) as German Chief of Staff Helge Braun (center) checks his phone before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, May 13, 2020. (KAY NIETFELD / POOL PHOTO / AFP)

Germany will start to ease some of the border controls introduced to slow the spread of the coronavirus from Saturday with the aim of having free travel in Europe from June 15, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday.

Seehofer said that general border controls agreed with France, Switzerland and Austria due to end on May 15 would be extended until June 16 but as many crossings as possible would be reopened.

The goal is that from mid-June we want to have free travel in Europe.

Horst Seehofer, Interior minister of Germany

"The goal is that from mid-June we want to have free travel in Europe," he said, adding that controls could be re-imposed if there are new outbreaks.

ALSO READ: EU pushes to unlock borders as coronavirus ravages travel

Chancellor Angela Merkel told her parliamentary caucus late Tuesday that border controls should end as soon as possible, but didn’t give a specific date, according to a person familiar with the discussions who asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.

Germany on Wednesday recorded a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases and the country’s infection rate dropped below a key threshold, as the country continues a gradual easing of restrictions on daily life.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 798 to 171,306, down from 933 on Tuesday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. The reported death toll rose by 101 to 7,634, according to the data.

Local residents queue to get protective masks at the Neuilly-sur-Seine town hall, outside Paris, May 12, 2020. (CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP)

France

France will maintain border controls with Germany until June 15, although there will be some relaxation of measures to help the day-to-day lives of those who have to make regular crossings, said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner on Wednesday.

France's death toll from the coronavirus rose by 348 to 26,991 on Tuesday, overtaking Spain to become the country with the world's fourth-highest number of fatalities after the United States, Britain and Italy.

On Tuesday the United States' COVID-19 death toll stood at 80,606, Britain at 32,065 and Italy at 30,911. Spain followed France with 26,920.

On the second day after the loosening of a strict nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus contagion, President Emmanuel Macron's government reiterated that it was ready to tighten restrictions again if necessary.

By the end of Monday, the government had already banned the consumption of alcohol along the popular Canal Saint-Martin area in eastern Paris, where groups of young people eagerly socialized in close contact with each other, against the rules.

The national government is also keeping popular Paris parks such as the Jardin du Luxembourg closed, despite calls from Mayor Anne Hidalgo to open them up to give Parisians more space to stretch their legs.

The health ministry said in a statement the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 infections fell again to 21,595 from 22,284 on Monday, continuing an uninterrupted downward trend that has lasted four weeks.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 708 to 140,227 on Tuesday, up from 456 on Monday. Including 37,988 probable cases, up 94, the total number of confirmed and probable cases rose by 802 to 178,225, putting France in sixth place worldwide by that measure.

The government has said it will consider locking down the country again if daily new infections rise above 3,000 again. In the past six days, the case count has increased by about 670 per day on average.

ALSO READ: Russia has world's 2nd highest tally, Putin spokesman infected

Global toll

Global COVID-19 deaths surpassed 290,000 on Tuesday, reaching 290,269 as of 3:32 pm (1932 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

A total of 4,238,703 cases have been reported from over 180 countries and regions across the world, according to the CSSE.

The United States reported the most COVID-19 deaths at 81,805 among 1,358,901 cases. Other countries with over 20,000 fatalities included Spain, Italy, Britain and France, according to the CSSE.  

Spain

Spanish authorities are planning to keep borders closed to most travellers from abroad until July, two foreign ministry sources told Reuters on Wednesday, in a move to try and avoid a second wave of contagion from the coronavirus.

Land borders with France and Portugal have been closed since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March to fight the pandemic, pushing the economy to a near stand-still and hitting its key tourism sector hard.

Spain has started easing the lockdown for its residents as the pandemic gets under control and decided in parallel to apply a two-week quarantine for foreign travellers. The quarantine measure is due to expire on May 24 when the state of emergency lapses, but both can be extended. 

"When we reach the new normal we can start opening borders with Schengen countries, we are talking about opening to these countries in early July," one of the sources said.

Spain's daily death toll from the coronavirus inched up on Wednesday to 184 fatalities from 176 on Tuesday, the country's health ministry said. The overall death toll rose to 27,104 while the overall number of diagnosed cases rose to 228,691 from 228,030 the prior day.

Ukraine

Ukraine reported 402 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the country's health ministry said, pushing the country's tally to 16,425 cases, with 439 fatalities and 3,716 recoveries.

Since the pandemic started, 1,130 children and 3,208 health workers have been infected.

A total of 5,184 coronavirus patients, including 571 health workers, have been hospitalized since the start of the epidemic.

US senators listen as Dr. Anthony Fauci (on screen), director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks remotely during a virtual Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 12, 2020. Seated from left are Senators Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Mike Braun, R-Indiana, center, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. (WIN MCNAMEE / POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

US

Leading US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday told Senate during a teleconference hearing that the nation has not had the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected over 1.3 million people in the country with more than 80,000 deaths, under total control yet.

Fauci warned that a premature lifting of lockdowns could lead to additional outbreaks in the United States. He told US lawmakers that it was "entirely conceivable and possible" that a second wave would happen this fall. He also dismissed a "cavalier" thinking that children are immune to the coronavirus.

Also attending the hearing remotely, Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the nation must have an extensive capacity to test for the coronavirus before it can lift certain restrictions.

Meanwhile in California, Governor Gavin Newsom said restaurants in a half-dozen counties can host sit-down dining, and shopping malls throughout the state can open for curbside pickup as coronavirus restrictions ease. Offices can also open with some restrictions, Newsom said. Six Northern California counties, Butte, El Dorado, Lassen, Nevada, Placer and Shasta, received that permission on Tuesday.

Separately, California's university system, the largest in the United States, canceled classes for the fall semester because of the coronavirus, while Los Angeles county said its stay-at-home order was likely to be extended by three months.

Also on Tuesday, Democrats in the US House of Representatives unveiled a US$3 trillion-plus coronavirus relief package with funding for states, businesses, food support and families, only to see the measure flatly rejected by Senate Republicans. The House is due to meet at 9 am (1300 GMT) on Friday for expected votes on the legislation and on a rules change allowing members to vote by proxy during the pandemic.

READ MORE: US working on boosting relief funds

At the White House, spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that VicePresident Mike Pence is keeping his distance from President Donald Trump for a few days in the wake of his press secretary testing positive for the coronavirus.

Brazil

Brazil's confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus passed Germany on Tuesday, as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fought states over his wish to reopen gyms and beauty parlors even as his country becomes a new global hotspot for the pandemic.

Brazil has confirmed 177,589 cases since its outbreak began in late February, passing Germany's 170,508 confirmed cases and drawing nearly even with France's tally of 178,225 confirmed and probable cases.

Brazil recorded its deadliest day yet, with 881 confirmed deaths in 24 hours from COVID-19.

Bolsonaro has ratcheted up his dispute with state governors this week, with a decree classifying businesses such as gyms and hair salons as "essential" services, exempt from lockdowns.

"Governors who do not agree with the decree can file lawsuits in court," Bolsonaro wrote on social media. He later threatened to take his own legal actions against them if they do not comply.

At least 10 governors said they would not follow the decree.

Italy

Italy’s education minister on Wednesday said schools across the country would reopen in September, after being shut for six months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“For this reason the government has decided to reopen in September,” Education Minister Lucia Azzolina told a parliamentary hearing, adding that the current conditions would not allow lessons to restart safely any earlier.

Schools and universities have been closed nationwide since March 5, as part of a lockdown to curb the spread of the virus which has so far killed almost 31,000 people in Italy.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 172 on Tuesday, against 179 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the daily tally of new cases doubled to 1,402 from 744 on Monday.

However, the rise in new cases was partly due to late reporting by the hard-hit Lombardy region, which said it had found 419 infections from previous weeks that it had not logged.

The total death toll now stands at 30,911 the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.

The number of confirmed cases amounts to 221,216, the fifth highest global tally behind those of the United States, Spain, Britain and Russia.

People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 81,266 from 82,488 the day before, the agency said.

Commuters travel through Waterloo Train Station in central London on May 13, 2020, as people start to return to work after COVID-19 lockdown restrictions were eased. (DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

UK

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the deaths of 144 health care workers and 131 social care workers had been reported as involving COVID-19.

The United Kingdom’s total COVID-19 death toll now exceeds 40,000, by far the worst yet reported in Europe.

Ireland

Ireland may introduce a legally enforceable 14-day quarantine for people arriving in the country to replace the current system in which 14 days of isolation is merely advised, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.

"We may need to tighten it up a bit because at the moment it is advisory, it is not enforceable by the law. We may have to do that," Varadkar told Today FM radio, speaking days after the United Kingdom announced plans for a quarantine.

Restrictions on entering Ireland, part of a Common Travel Area with the United Kingdom but not a member of the European Union's Schengen free travel area, would need to be in place "at least until we have some kind of international agreement" on air travel, Varadkar said.

Austria

Austria the same basic plan for reopening its borders with Switzerland and Liechtenstein as for its frontier with Germany, which it has already announced will fully reopen on June 15, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday.

“Fundamentally we will have the same procedure as with Germany. That means it happens in two phases ... There is not just the full opening on June 15 but also a loosening on May 15,” Kurz told a news conference, adding that the finishing touches to an agreement were being made.

Austria reported about 16,000 infections and 600 fatalities.

Russia

Russia on Wednesday reported 10,028 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide tally to 242,271.

The number of new infections topped 10,000 for the 11th straight day, but the pace of increase slowed to 4.3 percent. Moscow reported 4,703 new cases, the lowest number since May 1.

Russia's coronavirus response center said 96 people died overnight, bringing the official death toll to 2,212.

On Tuesday, Russia overtook Spain to record the world’s second-highest number of infections and President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman became the latest top official to test positive for the virus. Dmitry Peskov joins Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and the country’s construction and culture ministers as diagnosed with OVID-19. Peskov, traditionally the official with the closest day-to-day access to Putin, said in a text message he last met the president in person over a month ago.

Canada

The Canada-US border is expected to stay closed to non-essential travel until June 21 amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, the Globe and Mail newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Canada and the United States had agreed on April 18 to extend border restrictions for another 30 days as cases of the disease continue to rise in both nations and leaders weigh how and when to allow all businesses to reopen.

The Canadian coronavirus death toll passed the 5,000 mark on Tuesday and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said major reforms were needed for seniors' residences, where more than 80 percent of the victims lived.

The public health agency said the number of deaths edged up by 2.9 percent to 5,049, from 4,906 on Monday, one of the smallest daily gains so far. Canada is the 11th nation to record more than 5,000 deaths.

Colombia

Eighty-nine of 180 inmates and one staff member at the jail, located in Leticia, the capital of Colombia's Amazonas province, have tested positive, the national prison agency INPEC said on Tuesday.

The outbreak in the prison is counted among 743 cases reported in Amazonas, one of the country's most sparsely populated provinces. At least 25 people in the province have died from COVID-19, according to Colombia's National Health Institute.

President Ivan Duque said special containment measures would be taken for the Leticia jail, though he did not give details. Colombia would further militarize its closed border, sending troops to crossing points to prevent imported cases in Amazonas, Duque added, as well as distribute additional medical supplies to the province.

The outbreak at the Leticia jail is the second major one in a Colombian prison. The prison in the central city of Villavicencio, in Meta province, has also reported high infections, with some 838 inmates and staff struck by the illness.

Colombia, which has a population of around 50 million, has reported more than 12,270 coronavirus infections and over 490 deaths related to COVID-19.

Pedestrians and bicyclists walk or ride near an orange level warning sign with a message that reads in Spanish: "High contamination area of coronavirus. Stay home". In the Kennedy area of Bogota, Colombia, on May 12, 2020. (FERNANDO VERGARA / AP)

Mexico

Mexico's government gave the green light on Tuesday for the key automotive industry to restart production after weeks of disruption by the coronavirus pandemic, a decision that should pave the way to reopen North American supply chains.

The government's health committee, which issues binding sanitation rules, said it agreed to add makers of transport equipment, a category that includes automotive and aerospace industries, to the list of activities considered essential.

An official speaking on condition of anonymity said the announcement meant the auto industry was now able to restart. In practice, it will probably mean beginning on May 18, according to sources from the automotive industry and the government.

The decision came ahead of an announcement on Wednesday by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is expected to give more details about how suspended business operations and other activities would reopen in coming weeks.

On Twitter, the health committee said mining and construction had also been deemed essential activities. The industries will all have to follow health measures ordered by authorities, it added.

The health ministry confirmed 1,997 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, along with 353 additional deaths, the deadliest day yet.

The new infections brought confirmed coronavirus cases to 38,324 and 3,926 deaths in total, according to the official tally.

Uganda

Four cross-border cargo truck drivers tested positive for COVID-19 in Uganda Tuesday, taking the countrywide total of COVID-19 infections to 126, the health ministry said in a statement.

The four cases were confirmed after testing 1,478 samples collected from truck drivers, according to the statement.

Out of the country's total confirmed cases, at least 55 have recovered, according to the ministry.

North Macedonia

North Macedonia adopted a three-phase plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown, the government said Tuesday in a statement.

Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski said that the first phase will involve the reopening of businesses during the state of emergency and the gradual easing of the citizens' movement nationwide.

The second phase will allow some workplaces to reopen under recommended measures and strict work protocols in terms of prevention of COVID-19 spread. During the third phase, all workplaces will be allowed to reopen while still observing anti-pandemic measures for maintaining personal hygiene and physical distance.

According to Spasovski, between each phase, decisions will be made after an assessment of the situation on whether to continue to relax the measures and continue with the next phase.

Ten new coronavirus cases were registered in North Macedonia over the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 1,674, with 1,205 recoveries and 92 fatalities, health authorities said. 

Morocco

Morocco on Tuesday reported 137 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally of infections in the country to 6,418.

The number of recoveries increased by 180 to 2,991 while the death toll remains at 188, Mohamed El Youbi, director of epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, said at a daily briefing.

A temporary field hospital has started receiving the COVID-19 patients in Casablanca, Morocco's economic hub, to help deal with the growing number of infections in the city, which has reported 1,753 infections.

The temporary health facility, located on an area of 2,000 square meters at the International Fair of Casablanca, has a capacity of some 700 beds.

Sudan

Sudan on Tuesday recorded 134 new COVID-19 cases and six additional deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 1,660 and the death toll to 80.

Twelve more patients recovered from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries nationwide to 173, the health ministry said in a statement.

Poland

Poland will reopen restaurants and hairdressers next Monday as it eases coronavirus-linked restrictions, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday.

Poland, the largest economy of the European Union’s eastern members, started relaxing some of its curbs on public life in April. Earlier in May it allowed hotels, shopping centres and kindergartens to reopen.

“At least to some extent we have contained the epidemic, therefore we can gradually unfreeze the economy,” Morawiecki told a news conference, a day after Poland saw its largest rise in coronavirus cases in a single day.

Health Minister Lukasz Szumowski told reporters that the coronavirus reproduction rate had fallen below 1 in Poland, meaning that statistically speaking one infected person led to fewer than one new infections in other people.

Poland now has 17,062 confirmed coronavirus cases and 847 deaths. On Tuesday, the country saw its largest spike in new coronavirus cases in one day due to a rapid growth in infections among coal miners.

Chile

Chile's Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported 1,658 new cases of COVID-19 and 12 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's tally to 31,721 with 335 deaths.

The government predicted that the peak of the disease will be in May, and therefore quarantines have been expanded to include more than 30 areas, mainly in the capital.

The Ministry of Defense reported that mandatory quarantines will be enforced by police and the military and harsher penalties would be given to those who break health regulations.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education announced that the closure of all schools in Morocco will continue until September.

Senegal

Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action announced on Tuesday 109 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, pushing the country’s tally to 1,995.

The country has reported 19 deaths and 742 cases of recovery since the outbreak began on March 2.

READ MORE: Africa can learn from others on reopening economies

Egypt

Egypt's total number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 10,093 after 347 new infections were recorded on Tuesday.

Eleven more deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 544, said Khaled Megahed, the spokesman for Egyptian Health Ministry, in a statement.

Egypt also witnessed a daily record of recoveries as 154 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, raising the total number of recoveries to 2,326.

Greece

Two migrants who arrived on Greece's outlying Lesbos island have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, migration ministry sources said on Tuesday, adding they were isolated with no contact with refugee camps on the island.

The individuals had arrived on Lesbos on May 6. Since March 1 anyone arriving on the island has been placed in quarantine at a separate facility with no contact with larger groups of asylum seekers at other facilities on the island, the sources added.

The overcrowded Moria facility, on Lesbos, hosted more than 17,500 people by the latest official count on Monday.

"There is absolutely no connection between this (quarantine) facility and that of Moria," one migration ministry source said.

By Tuesday, Greece had reported 2,744 cases and 152 deaths.

Cyprus

The number of new coronavirus infections was minimal as Cyprus entered the second week of the easing of lockdown measures, the scientific advisor to Cyprus' health ministry said on Tuesday.

Leondios Kostrikis said that only two COVID-19 infections were confirmed in the 24-hour period before Tuesday afternoon, raising the total number of infections to 903.

However, he said it was worrying that the "minimal" number of infections reported in the last few days was confirmed in what he called "special groups," a term referring to people either entering hospitals for operations or elderly people who are being tested before being accepted into nursing homes.

Finland

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Finland has passed 6,000, said the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) on Tuesday.

According to THL, as of Tuesday afternoon, Finland has confirmed 6,003 COVID-19 cases after 19 new cases were reported. The death toll rose by four to 275.

Primary and lower secondary schools in Finland will reopen on Thursday this week, after nearly two months of closure to curb the spread of COVID-19. But Education Minister Li Andersson said on Tuesday that schools will be closed again once infections appear in an institution.

Meanwhile, both the Finnish airports' authority Finavia and the national carrier Finnair on Tuesday announced the mandatory requirement of mask wearing for their employees and passengers.

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday reported 59 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s tally to 820, health authorities announced.

The country has three deaths and 26 cases of recoveries since March 25.

Cape Verde

Cape Verde reported Tuesday seven newly confirmed COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 267, including two deaths and 58 recoveries.

Romania

Romania's COVID-19 death toll exceeded 1,000 on Tuesday, reaching 1,002, according the latest official data.

A total of 190 new cases were registered over the past 24 hours, bringing the country's tally to 15,778, according to the Strategic Communication Group (GCS), the government agency authorized to publish information on COVID-19.

Burundi

Burundi on Tuesday recorded eight new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the east African country to 27, a top official said.

Health Minister Thaddee Ndikumana said in a statement that out of a total of 158 people who were screened from May 5 to 8, eight turned out positive for COVID-19.

Somalia

Somalia’s health ministry on Tuesday confirmed 81 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the tally in the country to 1,170.

Health Minister Fawziya Abikar said five more patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 126. 

No deaths were reported on Tuesday.

South Sudan

South Sudan's Civil Aviation on Tuesday opened airports across the country and announced the resumption of both domestic and international flights despite a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

In a letter addressed to all airline operators in the country, David Subek Dada, chief executive officer of the South Sudan Civil Aviation said travelers and airline operators would be required to adhere to preventive measures recommended by the Ministry of Health before being permitted entry. The measures include the wearing of face masks, social distancing and spraying of all aircrafts on arrival.

International travelers would be required to produce medical certificates from countries of origin declaring them COVID-19 free and they would be subjected to 14-day quarantine upon arrival to South Sudan.

South Sudan reported its first coronavirus cases on April 5 and the number of cases has since risen 174 with zero deaths as of Monday.

Kenya

Kenya's Ministry of Health on Tuesday confirmed 15 new cases of coronavirus, raising the total number of infections across the country to 715.

Rashid Aman, chief administrative secretary in the ministry of health said eight patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 259.

Aman also said that three more patients in the coastal city of Mombasa have died,  bringing the total number of fatalities to 36.

Aman said that the government has dispatched a high-powered delegation to Kajiado county in southeastern Kenya following the increased number of positive cases along the Kenya-Tanzania border.

Belarus

Belarus reported 967 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 24,873.

Of all the confirmed cases, 6,974 people have recovered while 142 people with chronic diseases have died, according to the country's health ministry.st