(Illustrative image). India overtakes Russia to become third most infected country in the world.

Health ministry data on Monday (July 6) showed more than 23,000 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours, down slightly from Sunday's record increase of almost 25,000. There have been almost 20,000 deaths in India since the first case was detected there in January. India is now the world's third worst-affected country, behind only the United States and Brazil.

* Chinese health authority said Monday that it received reports of four new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Sunday, of which one was domestically transmitted. The domestically transmitted case was reported in Beijing, the National Health Commission said in its daily report. No deaths related to the disease were reported Sunday, according to the commission.

* Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 136 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 44,800. Of the new cases, seven are imported cases, 18 are community cases and the rest are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers. Of the new cases, 93 percent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

* The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 2,841,906 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 52,228 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 271 to 129,576.

* Russia's official coronavirus case tally, the fourth largest in the world, rose to 687,862 on Monday after officials reported 6,611 new infections in the last 24 hours. Authorities also said 135 people had died overnight, bringing Russia's official death toll to 10,296.

* Brazil recorded 26,051 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours as well as 602 deaths, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. Brazil has registered more than 1.6 million cases since the pandemic began, while cumulative deaths total 64,867, according to the ministry.

* Mexican health authorities reported 4,683 confirmed new infections of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, pushing its tally to a total of 256,848, and 273 more deaths to a total of 30,639.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 219 to 196,554, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 4 to 9,016, the tally showed.

* Republic of Korea reported 48 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of 0:00 a.m. Monday local time, raising the total number of infections to 13,137. The daily caseload fell below 50 after having stayed above 60 for the past three days amid the continued small cluster infections and imported cases. Of the new cases, 24 were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 1,690.

* People in England appear to have broadly behaved themselves as pubs reopened this weekend, Britain's health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday.

* The French economy is pulling out of the slump induced by the outbreak at least as fast as expected a month ago, and maybe even a little faster, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.

* Saudi Arabia announced health protocols to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in the 2020 haj season, banning gatherings and meetings between pilgrims, the state news agency said on Monday. Saudi Arabia decided in June to limit the number of domestic pilgrims attending the haj to around 1,000 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, after barring Muslims abroad from the rite for the first year in modern times.

* Peru on Sunday jumped past 300,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fifth-highest in the world, as the Andean nation of nearly 33 million people slowly reopens its battered economy. Peru's death toll from the virus now stands at 10,589, the 10th-highest in the world, according to Reuters calculations. Coronavirus cases rose by 3,638 on Sunday to 302,718, although new daily cases have slowed from peak levels in May and June.

* Chilean President Sebastian Pinera announced on Sunday a new US$1.5 billion package of measures to help keep the country´s ailing middle class afloat as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the economy of the world´s top copper producer. The measures include access to zero-interest loans, subsidized rent and the ability to defer mortgage loan payments for up to six months, Pinera said in a televised speech.

* The total number of COVID-19 cases exceeded 240,000 in Iran on Sunday. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's tally of confirmed cases nudged 210,000.

* Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry has confirmed 239 new COVID-19 positive cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of patients infected with the virus to 33,190 in the country, spokesman for the health ministry Akmal Samsoor said Monday. According to the official, 34 patients have died over the past 24 hours, bringing the number of COVID-19 related deaths to 898 since the outbreak of the epidemic in February in Afghanistan.

* Ireland will ease quarantine restrictions on people travelling from abroad on July 20, with people arriving from a "green list" of countries with low COVID-19 rates to be exempt from isolating themselves for 14 days, transport minister Eamon Ryan said.

* The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia imposed restrictions on about 70,000 people on Sunday following a COVID-19 outbreak, a day after Catalonia also introduced a local lockdown.

* Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 1,148 on Sunday, raising the total number in the country to 205,758, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said.

* Qatar's Health Ministry on Sunday announced 616 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 99,799.

* Egypt witnessed a record 623 daily recoveries from COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the total number of the recovered cases in the country to 20,726. Meanwhile, the country reported 1,218 new COVID-19 infections, the lowest since June 19, raising the total cases registered since mid-February to 75,253, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

* Iraqi Health Ministry said on Sunday that 2,125 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the total infection cases in the country to 60,479. The ministry also reported 105 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 2,473.

* The Israeli health ministry reported 788 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, raising the total number in the country to 29,958.

* The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced 683 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 51,540 and the death toll to 323.