People wearing face masks walk past a sign on a shop window advertising face masks for sale in Kingston upon Thames, south west London, June 22, 2020. (MATT DUNHAM / AP)

BOGOTA / MEXICO CITY / SARAJEVO / RIO DE JANEIRO / MADRID / PARIS / HELSINKI / ROME / BERLIN / LONDON / TEGUCIGALPA / MOSCOW / SOFIA / KIEV - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed criticism on Wednesday of his government’s plans to implement local lockdowns if there are flare-ups of the novel coronavirus and of an app to trace the spread of the virus.

At prime minister’s questions in parliament, the opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer suggested both systems were not yet ready before England eases its coronavirus lockdown from July 4.

In response, Johnson said: “We have a very effective cluster-busting operation which is designed to ensure that we keep those outbreaks under control."

British transport minister Grant Shapps said he would say more on June 29 about possible air bridges with other countries to enable travel during the coronavirus crisis, adding that conversations were ongoing.

Britons hoping to go on holiday and airlines are putting pressure on the government to drop a quarantine on those returning to Britain or to form air bridges, where two countries agree to allow travel without such measures.

A second coronavirus wave is a real risk for the United Kingdom and local flare-ups are likely, major health bodies said on Wednesday, in one of the strongest warnings yet to Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he eases lockdown to help the economy.

Meanwhile, Business Minister Alok Sharma said swimming pools and gyms in Britain could open later in July if the country continued to meet certain health tests, such as the R rate staying below one.

READ MORE: Restaurants & hotels to reopen as UK eases social distancing

Sharma's remarks came a day after PM Johnson announced that pubs and restaurants could reopen on July 4 but swimming pools, gyms and other leisure facilities were not given permission to do so.

The United Kingdom has one of the world's worst official death tolls from the novel coronavirus. Health officials reported 171 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 42,927. Health officials also reported 874 new cases, raising the country's tally to 306,210.

A member of the German army collects COVID-19 test samples of Toennies employees and their families who are quarantined in Verl, Germany, June 23, 2020. (MARTIN MEISSNER / AP)

Germany

Germany recorded an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases and the infection rate remained above a key threshold, as a number of localized outbreaks raise concerns that the disease might flare up again more widely.

There were 712 new infections in the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, up from 496 the previous day and bringing the total to 192,480, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Fatalities increased by 15 to 8,914.

The reproduction factor - or R value - fell to 2.02 on Tuesday from 2.76 the day before, according to the latest estimate by the Robert Koch Institute

According to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Tuesday, the number of confirmed cases increased by 587 to 191,449, and the reported death toll rose by 19 to 8,914.

The reproduction factor - or R value - fell to 2.02 on Tuesday from 2.76 the day before, according to the latest estimate by RKI. 

Health Minister Jens Spahn stressed that the coronavirus remains a risk after the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Tuesday put two municipalities back into lockdown following an outbreak at a meatpacking plant.

Guetersloh and the neighboring town of Warendorf became the first areas in Germany to fall back under lockdown measures that had been gradually lifted since the end of April.

A worker disinfects the entryway at a COVID-19 hospital in a military camp in Naucalpan, Mexico State, part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, June 23, 2020. (REBECCA BLACKWELL / AP)

Latin America

The number of people who have died from the coronavirus in Latin America surpassed 100,000 on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally of registered deaths, with few signs of the outbreak easing in a region marked by crowded cities and high poverty levels.

Latin America has seen an alarming spike in cases and deaths even as the tide of infection recedes in Europe and parts of Asia. The number of infections, at 2.2 million, has doubled in less than a month.

Brazil - Latin America's largest and most populous nation - this week became only the second country to reach the 50,000 deaths milestone, after the United States. Mexico on Tuesday registered a fresh one-day record for confirmed infections.

Latin America has seen an alarming spike in cases and deaths even as the tide of infection recedes in Europe and parts of Asia. The number of infections, at 2.2 million, has doubled in less than a month

Many officials concede the death toll is likely far higher.

The leaders of regional heavyweights Brazil and Mexico have been chastised for not taking the virus seriously enough and for pushing for a reopening of their economies before the virus has been tamed.

Mexico on Tuesday registered 6,288 new infections and 793 additional deaths from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the Health Ministry said, bringing the country's tally to 191,410 and the death toll to 23,377.

Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's deputy health minister and the country's coronavirus tsar, signaled that his nation was in for a long battle against coronavirus.

Mexico has been the worst hit-nation in the region after with Brazil, where an additional 1,374 deaths from the virus and 39,436 new cases were reported Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 52,000 people in Latin America's biggest economy. More than 1.1 million have been infected.

The virus also appears to be on the rise in Central America, where Guatemala on Tuesday recorded more than 700 new infections for the first time. An additional 35 deaths were registered in Guatemala, taking it death toll to 582.

Albania

Albania's Technical Committee of Experts on the coronavirus situation has decided to give the green light to the resumption of public transport under strict health protocols, Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a live communication video via Facebook, Manastirliu announced the decision but did not mention a clear date on when the public transport would restart.

When public transport resumes, according to health protocols approved by the ministry, all buses and public transport vehicles will be allowed to use up to 70 percent of their passenger capacity, bus drivers and passengers must wear masks and gloves, and all busses and bus terminals must be disinfected.

On Tuesday, health authorities reported 52 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally in the country to 2,047, with 1,195 recoveries and 46 fatalities. 

Austria

Austria has issued a warning against travel to the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia after a coronavirus outbreak at a meatpacking plant there, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday.

The move puts the state in the same category as the Italian region of Lombardy, the epicentre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak, which was one of the worst in Europe.

Brazil

A Brazilian judge ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to wear a mask in public after the right-wing populist attended political rallies without one in the middle of the world's second-worst coronavirus outbreak.

Federal Judge Renato Borelli ruled in a decision made public on Tuesday that Bolsonaro was subject to a fine of 2,000 reais (US$387) a day if he continued to disobey a local ordinance in the federal district meant to slow the pandemic.

Brazil's solicitor general, which argues the government's legal interests, said in a statement that it was studying ways to reverse the decision.

Bolsonaro has openly defied the consensus among public health experts for slowing the outbreak. His most visible defiance has been going mask-less at a string of demonstrations in Brasilia, holding babies for photos and shaking hands with supporters.

The country's former education minister, who resigned last week, was fined 2,000 reais for not wearing a  mask on the capital's central boulevard earlier this month.

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro waves to supporters gathered outside the presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 31, 2020. (ANDRE BORGES / AP)

Bulgaria

Bulgaria will extend a state of emergency declared in response to the coronavirus outbreak until July 15 after another jump in new registered cases, Health Minister Kiril Ananiev said on Wednesday.

Some 130 new cases were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total to date to 4,114, with 208 deaths. The latest jump prompted Ananiev's decision to reimpose the mask requirement at all indoor public venues, including trains and buses.

Ananiev said at a government meeting that the average daily number of people infected with coronavirus from June 10 to June 24 jumped more than three times (from 26 to 84 cases in a single day) compared with the previous two-week period.

Ananiev said the Black Sea state would not impose new measures or bring back tougher restrictions, but would step up controls on social distancing, obligatory face masks indoors and will keep travel bans for most countries outside the EU.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said during the meeting that unless social distancing among fans at soccer matches improved, he would order games to be played behind closed doors.

Chile

Chile on Tuesday reported that a total of 250,767 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and 4,505 have died of the disease in the country.

In the previous 24 hours, 3,804 new cases and three fatalities were registered.

The number of active cases currently stands at 35,692, with 2,009 patients in intensive care units, including 1,720 on ventilators. Of those, 392 were reported to be in critical condition.

Colombia

Colombia's lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus will continue until July 15, President Ivan Duque said in a nightly broadcast on Tuesday.

The Andean country has reported more than 73,500 cases of coronavirus and 2,404 deaths.

Duque first declared a national quarantine to control the spread of the new coronavirus in late March. While certain restrictions have been relaxed, the quarantine was due to lift on July 1.

In municipalities which have not seen coronavirus infections, pilot programs will begin to test the reopening of additional sectors, Duque said.

"We will start to pilot the reopening of restaurants and attending religious worship," he said.

Croatia

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said he would not self-isolate following his brief encounter with Novak Djokovic, the men's world number one tennis player who tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Djokovic tests positive for coronavirus, Adria Tour canceled

The Croatian Public Health Institute said in a statement that Plenkovic did not have to self-isolate as the risk of infection was low because he only briefly met Djokovic and was not in a close contact with him.

On Monday, Plenkovic tested negative for COVID-19 but calls from opposition politicians for him to self-isolate grew stronger on Tuesday after Djokovic, whom he had met briefly, tested positive.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Vili Beros said Tuesday that the number of new cases was rising but not exponentially in the country.

Thirty new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 2,336. So far 107 deaths had been reported in the country.

Egypt

Egypt confirmed on Tuesday 1,332 new COVID-19 infections, raising the country's tally to 58,141, said the Health Ministry.

The new infections marked the lowest in five days after a record of 1,774 cases was seen on June 19.

Also on Tuesday, another 87 deaths were reported, bringing the death toll to 2,365, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement. 

He added that 402 more patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery, increasing the number of recoveries in the country to 15,535.

Finland

The Finnish government announced plans on Tuesday to scrap a 14-day quarantine period for leisure travelers arriving from some other European countries from July 13, provided COVID-19 infection rates do not rise.

Countries that qualify for the easing of restrictions will be those where infections do not pass a maximum of eight cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of two weeks, Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo said. The government said it would confirm the list of qualifying countries closer to the date. 

Finland had recorded 327 COVID-19 deaths by Tuesday. It has confirmed 7,155 cases of the disease.

The Finnish government also decided to scrap specific guidelines for people over 70, such as recommendations to avoid physical contact and meet people only outdoors. It set Aug 1 as the end-date for a recommendation to all residents to work remotely whenever possible.

France

The number of people who died from coronavirus infection in France rose by 57 to 29,720 on Tuesday, more than twice as much as Monday, with the Health Ministry including weekly data for the death toll in nursing homes.

The ministry also reported that in the past seven days 31 people died of the virus in nursing homes, less than half of the 73 reported a week ago and in line with the 34 total of two weeks ago.

The number of newly confirmed cases rose by 517, almost 150 more than Monday and above both the daily average of 507 seen over the last seven days and the 414 daily average since the beginning of June.

Ghana

Ghana confirmed 414 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections to 14,568, said the Ghana Health Service (GHS).

The Director-General of the GHS Patrick Kuma-Aboagye said at the bi-weekly COVID-19 press briefing that the number of recovered cases increased to 10,907 after the addition of 434 new recoveries.

 "We have so far recorded 95 deaths. There are 24 severe cases across the country with six of them critical, and five persons are on ventilators," Kuma-Aboagye said.

The West African country's active cases stood at 3,566.

Honduras

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez needed oxygen after being hospitalized with the coronavirus last week, a military doctor said, warning that the leader remained in a "delicate" situation and would need to stay in hospital.

Tuesday's remarks by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Diaz, who works in the military hospital in the capital, Tegucigalpa, offered the first public glimpse of the seriousness of Hernandez's medical condition, stemming from treatment for pneumonia.

Diaz said the president's condition was "somewhere between a good state and feverish with trouble breathing", adding, "There is a clear improvement."

After Hernandez arrived in the hospital with a cough, breathing problems and signs of inflammation, doctors at the hospital adjusted his medication, "including the application of oxygen", Diaz said. They also changed his intravenous drip, he said, adding that Hernandez was in a stable but delicate state.

It was not clear if Hernandez was still receiving oxygen.

Honduras has so far reported 13,943 infections and 405 deaths in the pandemic. 

Italy

Active coronavirus infections in Italy dropped to under 20,000 over the past 24 hours in Italy, the country's Civil Protection Department said Tuesday.

The active infections fell to 19,573, down by 1,064 cases from Monday, according to a daily bulletin of the department.

The overall death toll rose to 34,675 after 18 more deaths were registerd in the past 24 hours.

A total of 184,585 patients have recovered, an increase of 1,159 compared to Monday. 

The overall number of COVID-19 infections, fatalities and recoveries rose to 238,833 cases over the past 24 hours, against a total of 238,720 cases on Monday, the department said.

Mali

Mali's health authorities reported Tuesday 23 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 2,001.

A total of 31 more patients were discharged from hospitals, and one additional death was registered in the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs said in a press release. The new figures bring the number of recoveries to 1,333 and the death toll to 112.

Morocco

Morocco on Tuesday reported 172 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country's tally to 10,344, the Ministry of Health said.

The death toll stood at 214, said Hind Ezzine, head of the department of epidemic diseases in the ministry, at a press briefing.

The number of recoveries increased to 8,407 after 41 new such cases were added, Ezzine said.

North Macedonia

The government of North Macedonia said on Tuesday that it has decided to resume flights at the International Airport of Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle Airport in Ohrid on July 1.

The decision was taken at a government meeting and is based on the recommendations of the Commission for Infectious Diseases, according to a press release.

At the meeting, the government also decided to fully open all border crossings for passengers and vehicles on June 26. 

Also from June 26, all bars and restaurants will also be allowed to operate in their indoor areas, gyms will be allowed to open, and shopping malls will be allowed to operate on Sundays.

The Health Ministry reported Tuesday 118 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's tally to 5,314, with 2,048 recoveries and 251 fatalities. 

Russia

Russia on Wednesday reported 7,176 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its nationwide case total to 606,881, the world's third highest tally.

The country's coronavirus crisis response centre said 154 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 8,513.

Rwanda

The Rwandan Health Ministry on Tuesday launched COVID-19 testing on the elderly and people with high-risk illness in the Rusizi district in western Rwanda, an official said.

The area that borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is among two of three places in Rwanda that have been reporting new cases. Part of it has been put under lockdown since June 4.

The ministry has dedicated three days to test the elderly in Rusizi as research shows that those over 60 years of age have greater risk of fatality from COVID-19, Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Center Sabin Nsanzimana said on Rwanda Television's news program.

Others to be tested include people with existing illnesses, including diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, he said.

The health ministry is setting up a test laboratory in Rusizi to ensure a faster coming of COVID-19 test results, Nsanzimana said. 

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio announced on Tuesday that the country is scheduled to lift the ban on inter-district travel on Wednesday.

"We have had high recovery and discharge rates, lower infection rates, and proportionally lower death rates three months on," Bio made the comments while announcing the lift of the ban on social media.

Bio also announced an adjustment to the curfew in the country, which will be revised to 11 pm to 6 am, adding that the country's commercial flights will resume in the very short run once all measures are in place.

As of Tuesday, Sierra Leone had recorded 1,340 cases of COVID-19, with 55 deaths.  

Residents walk past a sign reminding people of the measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, at a shopping mall in Johannesburg, South Africa, on June 22, 2020. (CHEN CHENG / XINHUA)

South Africa

The number of people who died of COVID-19 in South Africa rose by a daily record of 111, bringing the death toll to 2,102, while new cases surpassed 4,000 for a fourth consecutive day, data released Monday by the Health Ministry shows. 

The country has confirmed 106,108 infections since the first case was detected on March 5, the most in Africa, with the number now doubling on average every 12 days.

Heath Minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday said the coronavirus has infected 3,583 healthcare workers, of which 34 of them have died and 1,993 have recovered.

Mkhize said South Africa vowed to increase the country's testing capacity, with an aim to increase testing capacity to 30,000 tests a day. 

Spain

Spain will try out a new smartphone app aimed at thwarting the spread of the coronavirus by injecting hundreds of false cases into the system in a test run starting on Friday on the Canary Island of Gomera.

"The idea is that approximately 3,000 people download it and we will introduce around 300 simulators, beta testers, to mimic a pandemic among 10 percent of the population," a government spokeswoman said.

The trial will start on Friday and continue for two weeks, a period the government hopes will be enough to prove whether the app could be rolled out across the country.

Spain has reported more than 246,752 confirmed cases and 28,325 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Ukraine

Ukraine is opening more of its hospitals to coronavirus cases as the institutions initially chosen to accept patients no longer have enough beds to cope with a surge in infections, the health minister said on Wednesday.

The daily rise of coronavirus cases hit a new high of 940 on Wednesday, bringing the total to 39,014, with 1,051 deaths. Most new cases were registered in west Ukraine and the capital.

Officials say some citizens have not stuck closely enough to guidance on social distancing and other precautions to prevent the virus spreading, leading to a surge in cases.

"With this attitude of citizens, in some regions there is a sharp increase in the number of people who are hospitalised. In this regard, we need to open the second-line," Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said in a televised briefing.

UN

The United Nations (UN) is partnering with Africa-focused wireless carriers, including MTN Group Ltd. and Orange SA, on a mobile-data platform that delivers coronavirus-related information around the continent.

The free-to-use service has the potential to reach almost half of the African population, or about 600 million people, through their phones, according to Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. “If we get this right, it could be rolled out in other areas like Latin America,” she said in an interview.

Vodacom Group Ltd. and Airtel Africa Plc make up the quartet of companies putting rivalries to one side to help with the service, which will be available in 23 African countries and called the Africa Communications Intelligence Platform. The product, which went live in limited territories on Tuesday, distributes tips about COVID-19 to subscribers as well as information about hotspots and the need for food and financial assistance to governments and health teams fighting the virus.

US

Beaches in New York City will be open to the public for swimming ahead of Independence Day, after partially being reopened for Memorial Day weekend celebrations last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted late on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the governor of Washington state ordered residents to wear face masks in public as Texas, Arizona and Nevada set records in their coronavirus  outbreaks for a second consecutive week, and 10 other states from Florida to California were grappling with a surge in infections.

Both California and Texas reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time on Tuesday.

READ MORE: Surge in US cases leads to political spin

While most states are increasing testing, the percentage of tests coming back positive is also rising. At least four states are averaging double-digit rates of positive tests for the virus, such as Arizona at 20 percent. By contrast, New York, formerly the epicenter of the US outbreak, has been reporting positive test rates of around 1 percent.

Top US health officials told lawmakers that they haven’t discussed the pandemic with President Donald Trump for more than two weeks. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease official, told a House committee the surge in several states was concerning and the next two weeks could be critical in containing them. Other officials said Trump has not asked them to slow down testing for the virus.

Coronavirus cases in the US increased by 35,695 from the same time Monday to 2.33 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. Deaths rose 0.7 percent to 120,913.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported a total of 2,302,288 cases and 120,333 deaths.

Venezuela

Venezuela's western Zulia state has emerged as a hot spot for the COVID-19 pandemic as poorly supplied hospitals and chronic shortages of water and power make it difficult to prevent the disease from spreading.

Official statistics show there were 590 cases and 10 deaths in the sweltering border state that shares a frontier with neighboring Colombia, but opposition leaders have questioned the official figures. In some cases, patients die of symptoms consistent with COVID-19, but their death certificates only refer to pneumonia or other ailments, according to two Zulia health workers.

Officials say many of the cases originated in a sprawling food market that supplies much of Maracaibo, the Zulia state capital and Venezuela's second city. Known as the Maracaibo Flea Market, it has long been known for its overcrowding and poor sanitation.

Venezuela on Monday reported 4,048 cases of coronavirus and 35 associated deaths.

Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on Tuesday shut down its head office in Harare after the husband and child of a staff member tested positive for COVID-19, said ZACC spokesperson John Makamure.

Earlier reports indicated that the staff member was infected, but Makamure said that was not the case.

"It's not her. It's her husband and child who tested positive. She tested negative," he said, adding that the head office has fully complied with COVID-19 regulations, and personnel from the Ministry of Health and Child Care has fumigated the office. "The head office will be ready for use in 48 hours," he added.

Zimbabwe has so far recorded 525 confirmed cases, including six deaths and 64 recoveries.