A worker of an intercity bus company disinfects the bus as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Namirembe Bus Park in Kampala, Uganda, on June 4, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

MEXICO CITY / RIO DE JANEIRO / CAIRO / WASHINGTON / PARIS / LONDON / KAMPALA - New infection figures show that the COVID-19 situation in Uganda is rapidly changing, forcing the government and scientists to reconsider their strategy, especially in the capital here, a local virus hotspot.

The East African country over the weekend recorded its highest daily cases after inmates at one of the prisons tested positive for the virus 

The East African country over the weekend recorded its highest daily cases after inmates at one of the prisons tested positive for the virus. The country recorded 318 cases, the highest daily number since the index case was registered on March 21.

As of Aug 23, the country has a total of 2,263 confirmed cases, 1,226 recoveries and 20 deaths, according to Ministry of Health figures.

The Kampala Metropolitan Area has the highest numbers of community transmission; with a total of 401 COVID-19 cases and six deaths registered within the last week.

Cumulatively, according to the Health Ministry, a total of 599 COVID-19 cases, including 16 deaths have been reported in Kampala since March 23.

Uganda had been praised for taking some of the strictest measures in stopping the spread of COVID-19. In March, the country instituted a lockdown, which included closing the border entry and exit points to international travelers except for cargo, closing schools, and banning public and private transport except for essential workers, among others. The country also has a night curfew.

Over time, the country started easing its lockdown measures. Figures, including those released by the country's Ministry of Finance showed that the economy had started exhibiting signs of recovery.

But as the lockdown eased, the virus also spread rapidly despite calls for the public to adhere to the Ministry of Health's precautions

Private and public transport reopened, shopping malls resumed operations, and wearing a face mask while in public was made mandatory.

But as the lockdown eased, the virus also spread rapidly despite calls for the public to adhere to the Ministry of Health's precautions.

The ministry is now warning that the country has reached a critical stage in the fight against the pandemic.

Minister of Health Ruth Aceng recently said that if the COVID-19 cases continue to increase, the health sector would be overwhelmed, and the situation could worsen.

"The COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing in Uganda. COVID-19 is real, it's highly infectious and it kills. It's our responsibility to stop this catastrophe," said Aceng.

Minister of Works and Transport Katumba Wamala last week warned that the government would re-impose a ban on public transport over violation of COVID-19 prevention procedures.

Wamala said public commuter taxi operators and other motorists are flouting the standard operating procedures.

"With the increasing cases of community transmission, we may be forced to halt public transport," he said.

President Yoweri Museveni last week said that he would this week issue new regulations to curb the rapid spread of the virus.

It is widely believed that the government is likely to re-impose a lockdown in order to get a firm grip on the fight against the pandemic.

Brazil 

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro defended the reopening of retail outlets “with responsibility” and said his government had done everything possible to curb the spread of COVID-19, in a video posted on social media Sunday.

Some authorities have destroyed jobs in Brazil, Bolsonaro said, referring to state governors who advocate maintaining social distancing. 

Bolsonaro spoke on a day in which Brazil reported 494 deaths from COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, the lowest number of fatalities recorded in a single day since May 31. The additional deaths pushed the death toll to 114,744, according to the Ministry of Health.

READ MORE: Global virus toll tops 800,000, infections above 23 million

In the same 24-hour period, tests detected 23,421 new cases of infection, bringing the total caseload to 3,605,783.

The southeast state of Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous, is the epicenter of the country's outbreak, with 754,129 cases of infection and 28,467 deaths, followed by Rio de Janeiro, with 210,948 cases and 15,292 deaths.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide on Monday surpassed 23.4 million while the global COVID-19 death toll topped 808,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

READ MORE: WHO: Children aged 12 and over should wear masks like adults

Africa tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa surged to 1,178,770 while the death toll rose to 27,592, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Sunday.

The total number of recoveries stood at 899, 802, it added.

Belarus

Belarus reported 177 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking its total to 70,645, according to the country's health ministry.

There have been 86 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 68,925, the ministry added.

So far, 646 people have died of the disease in the country, including four over the past 24 hours, it said.

As of Monday, close to 1,478,000 tests for the virus have been conducted across the country, including 3,884 over the past 24 hours, according to official figures.

Canada

A total of 124,629 cases of COVID-19, including 9,071 deaths, had been reported in Canada, said the Public Health Agency of Canada on Sunday.

According to the agency, 89 percent of those infected had recovered.

Labs across Canada had tested 5,076,734 people for COVID-19 to date. Over the past week, an average of over 48,700 people were tested daily, with 0.8 percent testing positive, it said.

Over the last several weeks, national daily case counts have ranged from 350 to 500 cases, with an average of 380 cases being reported daily during the most recent seven days.

As Canada continues to reopen economic and social spaces, the agency said the country has seen increased COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. "But we are continually improving our capacity to manage COVID-19 based on our own experience and the experience of other countries. Together, we can limit the size and impact of these resurgences," it said.

Chile

Chile's Ministry of Health on Sunday reported a total of 397,665 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 10,852 deaths had been recorded across the country.

According to the ministry, in the previous 24 hours, tests detected 1,942 new cases while 60 more patients died.

The total number of recoveries rose by 15,634 to 371,179.

Colombia

The Colombian Ministry of Health and Social Protection on Sunday recorded 8,044 new COVID-19 infections and 348 more deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the country's tally to 541,147 and the death toll to 17,316.

A total of 374,030 people have recovered from the disease so far, said the ministry.

Dominican Republic

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Dominican Republic rose to 91,161 on Sunday after tests detected 600 new infections in the past 24 hours.

The death toll climbed to 1,567 after 13 more patients died from the disease in the same period, the Ministry of Public Health said.

Meanwhile, 60,670 patients have recovered while 7,337 were in hospital isolation, with 266 being treated in intensive care units.

Ecuador

Ecuador on Sunday reported 680 new COVID-19 cases and 33 more deaths from the disease in the previous 24 hours, raising the total caseload to 107,769 and the death toll to 6,310.

The Ministry of Public Health said infections were still on the rise in the north-central province of Pichincha, the current epicenter of the national outbreak, which has recorded 22,388 infections and 884 deaths.

The city hit hardest by the pandemic is still the capital Quito, located in Pichincha. The city saw 168 new cases of infection in the past day, bringing the tally there to 20,253.

Egypt

Egypt confirmed on Sunday 103 new COVID-19 infections, raising the tally to 97,340, said the Health Ministry.

Deaths rose by 19 to 5,262 while recoveries increased by 809 to 65,927, the ministry's spokesman, Khaled Megahed, said in a statement.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia's tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 40,671 after 1,638 new cases were confirmed on Sunday, the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry said in a statement that 16 more deaths were recorded, taking the death toll to 678, while, recoveries increased by 515 to 14,995.

France

A naturist resort on France’s Mediterranean coast has seen a sharp spike in coronavirus infections and nudists have been ordered to at least wear masks and practice social distancing, health authorities said on Monday.

Tests had shown a 30% infection rate in people who had visited Village Cap d’Agde - which advertises itself as a village for naturists and libertines - the Occitanie region health authority said.

French authorities will in coming days reciprocate Britain's decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France, the junior minister for European affairs said on Monday.

Britain said on Friday travellers from the United Kingdom to France are required to self-certify that they are not suffering coronavirus symptoms or have been in contact with a confirmed case within 14 days preceding travel. Since Aug 15 British authorities have also required travellers returning from France to self-isolate upon their return due to high COVID-19 infection rates in France.

France reported 4,897 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours on Sunday, the highest daily level since the end of a two-month lockdown in May.

Health Minister Olivier Veran warned earlier that the situation was risky, and said infections were essentially happening among 20 to 40 year-olds at parties.

Cases among older people were starting to rise too, Veran said, but he ruled out another total lockdown in France.

Georgia

Georgia added 10 COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing its tally to 1,421.

Five of the new cases were imported, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health said.

The center added that a total of 1,137 patients had recovered while 17 others had died.

Germany

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 711 to 233,575, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

The reported death toll rose by three to 9,272, the tally showed.

Germany should temporarily ban private parties, several lawmakers suggested on Sunday, after the number of coronavirus infections in Europe's largest economy reached a four-month high.

The suggestions come ahead of a planned meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel with the premiers of Germany's federal states on Thursday to discuss a unified approach to the next steps.

Greece

Greece reported a record 284 new coronavirus cases on Sunday. pushing the tally to to 8,664, of which around 40 percent has been reported in August. 

The death toll reached 242. 

The nation extended restrictions, including the closure of bars and restaurants on the island of Lesvos from midnight to 7 am starting Monday through Sept 1.

Italy

Italy reported 1,210 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, an increase from 1,071 the day before, pushing the tally to 259, 345. The daily increase extends a series of increases since Aug 17. 

There were seven deaths compared with three the day before.

Mexico

Mexico reported 226 more deaths from coronavirus on Sunday, finishing the week with 3,723 fatalities, the lowest total in over two months. 

According to the latest figures from the Health Ministry, Mexico's coronavirus death toll now stands at 60,480.

The health ministry also reported 3,948 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 560,164.

Also on Sunday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Mexico has in August recovered nearly 67,000 formal jobs so far from the economic hit caused by the pandemic.

In an address on YouTube, Lopez Obrador said the country had created 66,734 jobs this month. Mexico lost more than one million formal jobs in the period between March and July, the government said.

Morocco

Morocco on Sunday reported 1,537 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 52,349.

The death toll rose by 30 to 888 while the total number of recoveries increased by 1,303 to 36,343, said Mouad Mrabet, coordinator of the Moroccan Center for Public Health Operations at the Ministry of Health, at a press briefing.

Poland

Poland on Monday insisted it would reopen schools next week for the first time since mid-March despite reaching a record high number of daily registered coronavirus infections late last week.

Poland was at first successful in containing the outbreak, but cases have started rising in recent weeks and on Friday authorities reported 903 new infections, the highest daily increase to date.

The rise in infections has caused concern among some parents contemplating sending their children back to class.

Russia

Russian authorities may this week announce the resumption of international flights to France, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt and China's Shanghai, the Izvestia newspaper cited unnamed airport and airline sources as saying on Monday.

Russia grounded international commercial flights during the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year and has so far only resumed flights to London, Turkey, Tanzania and Switzerland.

Russia reported 4,744 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing its confirmed infection tally to 961,493, the fourth largest in the world. The death toll rose by 65 to 16,448, authorities said.

Sweden 

Sweden is likely to see local outbreaks but no big second wave of COVID-19 cases in the autumn, such as inundated hospitals a few months ago, the country’s top epidemiologist and architect if its unorthodox pandemic strategy said on Monday.

Sweden has been an outlier in Europe’s fight against the novel coronavirus, keeping businesses, restaurants and most schools open throughout the pandemic, while not recommending the use of face masks, which remain a rare sight on city streets.

Switzerland

Infections in France are approaching the threshold at which Switzerland would demand visitors from there to quarantine for 10 days, the Tribune de Geneve reported Monday. 

France is nearing the 60 cases per 100,000 people mark, the paper reported, which means that a mandatory quarantine “is a possibility,” a Swiss official was quoted as saying. 

Switzerland’s current list of countries from which travelers must quarantine include Belgium, Spain and the US. The restrictions would particularly affect the more than 100,000 workers who live in France and cross the border into Switzerland each day.

Tunisia

Tunisia on Sunday reported 80 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 2,818.

A total of 1,443 patients have recovered while 71 others have died so far, according to a statement released by the health ministry.

Since June 27, when Tunisia reopened borders to tourists, 1,615 cases have been reported across the country, including 484 imported ones and 1,131 local ones as well as 21 deaths.

UK

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday called on parents to send their children back to school next month after the summer holidays, which he views as a key step to helping the country and its economy recover from the coronavirus lockdown.

Johnson followed up on a warning over the weekend from medical advisers who said that students faced bigger risks from missing out on their education than from catching the virus.

"The risk of contracting COVID-19 in school is very small and it is far more damaging for a child's development and their health and well-being to be away from school any longer," Johnson said in a statement.

The United Kingdom recorded 1,041 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, down from 1,288 on Saturday and pushing the official tally to 325,642, government figures showed. Six people died after testing positive for the coronavirus within the previous 28 days, compared with 18 deaths announced on Saturday.

READ MORE: UK warns virus may be spreading as new cases spike

Tougher measures targeting the most serious breaches of social distancing restrictions will come into effect on Friday, ahead of the bank holiday weekend, the government said Sunday. Those facilitating or organising illegal raves, unlicensed music events, or any other unlawful gathering of 30 people or more may face a 10,000 pounds (US$13,087) fine, said the Home Office in a statement on its website.

Ukraine

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, local media reported Sunday.

"Her condition is assessed as serious. Her temperature is up to 39 degree Celsius," a spokeswoman for Tymoshenko's Fatherland party was quoted as saying.

The spokeswoman did not give further details, according to the report.

The number of COVID-19 infections in Ukraine has been increasing, with the national tally reaching 107,379 as of Sunday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Phlebotomist Samatha Gallegos talks with Oklahoma's Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz as he donates convalescent plasma at the Oklahoma Blood Institute in Oklahoma City, Aug 12, 2020. (SARAH PHIPPS / THE OKLAHOMAN VIA AP)

US

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) on Sunday for investigational convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients.

It is part of the agency's ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19. Based on scientific evidence available, the FDA concluded this product may be effective in treating COVID-19 and that the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product, according to a release of the agency.

The agency also said it determined this was a safe approach in an analysis of 20,000 patients who received the treatment. So far, 70,000 patients have been treated using blood plasma, the FDA said.

President Donald Trump hailed the FDA's authorization, a day after accusing the agency of impeding the rollout of vaccines and therapeutics for political reasons.

ALSO READ: EU raises its bet on blood plasma in search for virus therapy

The approval came while coronavirus cases in the US topped 5.7 million, with more than 176,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The Trump administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University for use in the United States ahead of the Nov 3 elections, the Financial Times reported.

AstraZeneca denied having discussed an emergency use authorization for its potential vaccine with the US government.

Separately, the US Environmental Protection Agency plans to issue an emergency exemption to Texas that will allow American Airlines to use a new surface coating that kills coronaviruses for as long as seven days, Reuters reported, citing unidentified officials familiar with a planned EPA announcement on Monday.