In this July 1, 2020 photo, people walk along a street of the red light district in Amsterdam. (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

WASHINGTON / FRANKFURT / LONDON / MEXICO CITY / ZAGREB / SAO PAULO / PARIS / TUNIS / SANTIAGO / ALGIERS / TRIPOLI / LJUBLJANA / PRAGUE / MILAN / ADDIS ABABA / MOSCOW / MADRID / DUBLIN / BUENOS AIRES / RABAT / LISBON / MAPUTO / WARSAW - The surge in new virus cases continued in the Netherlands, with a record 6,854 cases, confirmed in the 24 hours until Monday morning, news agency ANP reported, citing the country’s health agency. 

More than 41,000 cases were reported in the past seven days. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will likely announce stricter measures tomorrow, according to local media. Without new measures, medics warned that about 5,000 coronavirus patients will be in hospital next month, meaning 70 percent of regular care would have to be scrapped, ANP said.

AstraZeneca Plc

AstraZeneca Plc started late-stage trials for an antibody medicine against COVID-19 with a large investment from the US, after US President Donald Trump credited a similar therapy with aiding his recovery.

Two trials for more than 6,000 people are starting in the next few weeks looking at prevention, with plans for a further 4,000 adults to test the antibody medicine as a treatment, Astra said in a statement. The drug will be assessed for its ability to avoid infections for as much as a year in some people and as a pre-emptive medicine once patients have been exposed to the virus in others.

Astra is one of a number of companies exploring monoclonal antibodies as a way to prevent and treat COVID-19, which could be key for high-risk populations who may not respond well to a vaccine. The US has already secured hundreds of thousands of doses of the experimental treatments.

Eli Lilly & Co and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc last week asked the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorizations but haven’t yet received clearance. Trump has said Regeneron’s antibody cocktail was key to his apparent recovery from coronavirus.

Global tally

Coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 37 million as the global death toll topped 1.07 million on Sunday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

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Kongoni Primary School head teacher, George Njau, attends to pupils inside a classroom during the partial reopening of schools in Nairobi on Oct 12, 2020, following schools closure country wide due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. (SIMON MAINA / AFP)

Africa tally

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded across the African continent reached 1,569,680 while the death toll hit 38,196 as of Sunday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

Algeria

Algeria reported on Sunday 132 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the tally of infections to 53,072, the Ministry of Health said.

The ministry also reported six additional fatalities, raising the country's death toll to 1,801.

A health worker attends to a patient in an intensive care unit designated for people infected with COVID-19 at a hospital in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Oct 10, 2020. (NATACHA PISARENKO / AP)

Argentina

President Alberto Fernandez warned on Sunday that the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading "with enormous ferocity" in Argentina.

"Between now and the end of the year we have to contain it, because the pandemic is not over, it is at its worst at the moment. We are experiencing it with a little more relief in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. But in the interior (of the country) it has spread with enormous ferocity," Fernandez said in an interview published Sunday by local online news magazine El Cohete a la Luna.

In the central province of Buenos Aires, the largest province in the country, the number of intensive care beds has grown from 790 in December to nearly 2,100, according to the president.

"At the peak (of the outbreak), around 1,500 beds were occupied," he said.

Argentina has so far reported more than 883,000 cases of infection and over 23,000 deaths.

Brazil

Brazil confirmed 290 coronavirus deaths over the last 24 hours and 12,342 new cases, the nation's Health Ministry said on Sunday.

It was the lowest daily toll reported since April 5, according to Health Ministry data. 

The South American country has now registered 5,094,979 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 150,488 total deaths. 

Belgium

Belgium’s 14-day incidence rose to 387 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants from 349 the previous day. That makes it currently the second-hardest hit country in Europe, behind the Czech Republic. In the Brussels capital region, the 14-day incidence rate surged to 758 per 100,000. More than 10 percent of tests performed in the past week came back with a positive result, the highest positivity rate since late April.

Chile

Chile's healthcare workers carried out as many as 39,211 COVID-19 tests in the previous 24 hours, Health Minister Enrique Paris said on Sunday.

So far, the country has reported a total of 481,371 confirmed cases, Paris told reporters. The death toll stood at 13,318.

Stepped-up testing "reflects the effort we are making to constantly increase our testing capacity," said Paris, adding that a total of 3,693,252 tests had been applied since March.

He urged people to go to their local healthcare centers should they have "any symptoms associated with COVID-19 so they can be treated".

Croatia

Croatia's national civil protection authority adopted new measures on Monday to tackle the recent resurgence of COVID-19 outbreak, including mandatory mask-wearing in all public indoor places.

Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic announced at a daily press briefing that starting from Monday, wearing a mask is required in all public indoor settings where a minimal two-meter distance can not be maintained.

"We are not satisfied with the epidemiological situation in Croatia, although we can say that it does not differ from the situation in Europe," Bozinovic, who also heads the national civil protection authority, told reporters after the introduction of new measures.

Masks are mandatory in bars and restaurants, and customers can take them off only when they are seated at the table. New restrictions also include mandatory use of masks in churches.

Czech Republic

The Czech government will tighten coronavirus measures from Wednesday to curb soaring infections and hospitalizations but will seek to avoid the kind of blanket lockdown imposed in the spring, government officials said on Sunday.

"We have to decide on further measures, that will happen on Monday at the government session, and the measures will be effective from Wednesday," Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in a video message on YouTube.

So far in October, the Czech Republic has reported more than 43,000 cases, the same number as for the whole of September. The number of hospitalized patients jumped by 76 percent to 2,085 in the past week, raising concerns that hospitals may soon be overwhelmed.

In this June 10, 2020 photo, the StopCovid app sits displayed on a Huawei Technologies Co Y5 smartphone near customers dining on a restaurant terrce in this arranged photograph in Paris, France. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

France

France must avoid another general lockdown by all means possible in the face of a “very strong” resurgence of COVID-19, said Prime Minister Jean Castex.

Speaking Monday on France Info radio, Castex urged the public to wear face coverings as much as possible, keep contacts to a minimum and take other basic sanitary measures to avoid infection.

“I’m not asking anything revolutionary,” Castex said. It’s essential for companies to keep working, and children to keep going to school, he said.

France has emphasized local measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases in recent weeks after a two-month national lockdown in the spring devastated the economy. With new infections spiking to fresh highs, there’s little evidence the piecemeal approach is working.

Toulouse and Montpellier this weekend joined other French cities that have been placed on maximum alert as the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose by nearly 27,000 on Saturday. Bars, casinos and exhibitions in the cities will close while restaurants, cinemas and museums have to abide by stricter health rules starting Monday.

The number of new coronavirus infections in France was 16,101 in the last 24 hours, down from a record of almost 27,000 the previous day, health ministry data showed on Sunday.

The figures took the cumulative total to 734,974 since the start of the year. The number of deaths from the virus increased by 46 to 32,730.

Geogia

Georgia reported 523 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing its tally to 11,794.

Of the 523 new cases, 194 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health said.

As of Sunday, 6,327 patients have recovered while 85 others have died, the center said.

Travelers wait in front of a coronavirus test center at the central station in Cologne, Germany, Oct 11, 2020. (MARTIN MEISSINER / AP)

Germany

Coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 2,467 to 325,331 while deaths rose by six to 9,621, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

Germany should continue capping the number of people allowed at gatherings and clamp down on unnecessary travel as the country battles rising coronavirus infections, an aide to Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday.

Helge Braun, the chancellor’s chief of staff, said test centers should prioritize health sector workers and people showing symptoms over tourists.

Bavaria’s prime minister, Markus Soeder, at the weekend proposed steeper fines for people not wearing masks where mandated in places such as public transport and shops -- of 250 euros (US$295.60) compared with the current 50 euros, and 500 euros for repeat offenders.

Merkel will hold further talks with state premiers on Wednesday.

Ireland

Ireland plans to introduce coronavirus testing at airports as part of a possible alternative to quarantine for some arriving passengers, although it is not clear when the capacity will be ready, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said on Sunday.

Under an EU system to be signed off next week, travelers from regions with extremely low levels of the virus will be placed in a "green" category and allowed to travel without restriction, but very few regions in Europe now qualify.

Other regions would be listed as "amber" or "red" with governments to impose restrictions.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the default position would be to require travellers from "red" and "amber" regions to restrict their movements. But plans are being worked on by the government for testing that could allow some passengers to avoid quarantine.

Italy

Italy reported 5,456 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the second highest since late March, despite that lower numbers of testing were processed. The positivity rate, which has almost doubled in the last 10 days, jumped to 5.2 percent.

Italy is preparing fresh nationwide restrictions, including on private parties, in response to a recent spike in new coronavirus cases, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Sunday.

Speranza said Italy needed to add restrictions after having eased them for several weeks, as it aims to avoid a new national lockdown.

The new restrictions package will be discussed with regions on Monday and will be included in a decree that Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte could sign as early as Monday evening, Speranza said.

Libya

The National Center for Disease Control of Libya reported on Sunday 1,026 new COVID-19 cases, taking the number of infections to 42,712.

The center said in a statement that 247 more patients have recovered while another eight people have died, taking the number of recoveries and the death toll to 24,038 and 631, respectively.

Mexico

Mexico's Health Ministry reported on Sunday 3,175 newly confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 139 additional fatalities, bringing the total to 817,503 cases and 83,781 deaths.

Morocco

Morocco registered 2,563 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the overall tally to 152,404, the health ministry said in a statement.

It also reported 33 additional deaths, raising the death toll in Morocco to 2,605.

Mozambique

Mozambique registered 157 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 10,001, the Ministry of Health (MISAU) said in a statement on Sunday.

Since the first infection of COVID-19 was found in late March, it took the country nearly six months to register its first 5,000 cases and only one month to have the second 5,000.

One additional death was also registered, taking the death toll to 71.

Poland

Poland is not currently considering introducing a state of natural disaster, although no scenario can be ruled out as the coronavirus pandemic develops, the Polish prime minister's top aide told public radio.

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily reported on Monday that one option the Polish government was considering was introducing a state of natural disaster, one of three emergency states that exist in Poland.

"We obviously cannot exclude any scenarios, but at the moment no such option is considered," Michal Dworczyk told PR1 radio.

Portugal

Portugal recorded 1,090 COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to 86,664 cases, according to an epidemiological bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) on Sunday.

According to the DGS, the death toll rose to 2,080 after 13 more deaths were registered in the same period.

Currently, the country has 31,397 active cases, up by 693 from Saturday. 

Russia

Russia registered 13,592 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 1,312,310, the country's COVID-19 response center said Monday.

Daily coronavirus cases in the capital Moscow have increased by 4,395, with a cumulative case count of 334,813, the center reported.

According to the statement, 1,024,235 patients have recovered in Russia, including 3,793 recoveries over the past day.

Russia recorded 125 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the COVID-19 cumulative death toll in the country to 22,722.

More than 51.1 million tests have been conducted in the country.

Moscow's mayor said Sunday that people will be vaccinated "in a few months", state media reported.

"In a few months there will be a vaccine, which will allow people to be vaccinated on a large scale," Sergei Sobyanin was quoted as saying by state media.

Russia in August became the first country to grant regulatory approval for a COVID-19 vaccine. About 400 high-risk patients have received jabs, according to the health ministry, but the vaccine is not yet in general circulation.

Slovakia

Slovakia will put in place stricter measures from Thursday to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, including a requirement to wear face masks in public and limits to public gatherings, its health minister said on Sunday.

The country has reported a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases in recent days, recording 19,851 cases on Saturday, up from 13,139 over the week.

People will be required to wear masks in residential areas when closer than 5 meters to people other than family members, Health Minister Marek Krajci said.  All public events will be banned and the government will also debate on Monday whether to limit public gatherings to more than six people, Krajci added.

Meanwhile, restaurants will be allowed only to serve food outdoors or for takeout. All fitness facilities, aquaparks, swimming pools and saunas will be closed.

Shopping centers will be required to provide at least 15 square metres of space for each customer, while grocery stores and drugstores will have certain times reserved for senior citizens.

Slovenia

Slovenia recorded 411 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, a record high since the country confirmed its first case on March 4, according to official statistics released on Sunday.

The total number of confirmed cases stood at  8,663, of which 3,314 are active cases. The death toll remained at 167.

Commenting on the rising number of infections, Health Minister Tomaz Gantar said the country was "very close to the point where restrictions which improved the situation in the spring needed to be adopted," according to the Slovenian Press Agency STA.

Government COVID-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the STA that talks between all stakeholders were underway regarding introducing possible additional measures to curb the virus due to the deteriorating situation.

Spain

The Spanish regions of Catalonia and Navarre will bring in new restrictions on working and public gatherings after worrying rises in COVID-19 cases, authorities said on Sunday.

Josep Maria Argimon, the Catalan health secretary, asked companies to tell employees to work from home for the next 15 days.

Catalonia reported 2,360 COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths in the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Sunday.

Navarre, which has a population of 650,000, reported 463 coronavirus cases, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic.

From Tuesday, meetings will be limited to six people, bars and restaurants must close at 10 pm and their capacity will be limited to 50 percent, while the capacity in children's parks will cut to 30 percent.

Tunisia

Tunisia's Health Ministry reported on Sunday 1,297 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally to 32,556, along with 478 deaths.

The ministry said there were 704 COVID-19 patients reported, including 138 in intensive care units.

Pedestrians wearing face masks walk on the high street in west London on Oct 11, 2020. (JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP)

UK

British PM Boris Johnson will on Monday impose a tiered system of further restrictions on parts of England as the COVID-19 outbreak accelerates, though anger is rising at the cost of the stringent curtailment of freedoms.

Johnson’s three-tiered local lockdowns will include shutting bars, gyms, casinos and bookmakers in some areas placed into the “very high” alert level, probably across the north of England, British media reported.

The UK recorded 12,872 new cases and 65 more deaths on Sunday, pushing the tally to 603,716 and the death toll to 42,825, according to government data.

The mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotherham, said on Sunday the government wanted to put his city and surrounding area in the category subject to the toughest restrictions, adding that the measures that would apply there had not yet been agreed.

US

The United States added 54,600 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the fourth straight day that the daily tally topped 50,000 as the nation’s caseload ticks up again, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg.

The overall tally is now at more than 7.7 million. The nation has recorded more than 214,000 deaths.

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Vatican City

Four members of the Vatican Swiss Guards, the elite and colourfully dressed corps that protects the pope, have tested positive for COVID-19, the Vatican said on Monday.

The results came in over the weekend and added to three other residents or citizens of the tiny Vatican city-state who have tested positive in recent weeks, according to a statement.

They are believed to be the first in the corps to test positive.

Nearly all of the guard are single men who live in a barracks just inside the Vatican gates. The commanders and married members live in separate apartments. All members have Swiss nationality.

The Vatican said all of those who had tested positive had mild symptoms. They have been isolated and tracing of those with whom they had been in direct contact was underway.

The Vatican last week instituted prevention measures stipulating that everyone had to wear masks, even outdoors, and practice social distancing.