More than 200,000 people have died from coronavirus in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Brazil and Mexico accounting for nearly three-quarters of those deaths, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 0830 GMT on Sunday.

Iran on Sunday reported its highest single-day novel coronavirus infection count in nearly a month, warning that most of its provinces have been hit by a resurgence of the disease.

Australia's second-largest city imposed an overnight curfew on Sunday to halt the spread of coronavirus cases, as South Africa's infection count topped more than half a million.

Siemens Healthineers, the German conglomerate's medical devices arm, said Sunday it has agreed to buy U.S. cancer treatment specialist Varian for $16.4 billion.

Iraqi midwife Umm Mariam used to help bring three babies into the world per day. But with mothers-to-be avoiding pandemic-hit hospitals, she now delivers twice that number in her makeshift home clinic.

The U.N. health agency warned that the coronavirus pandemic would be lengthy and could lead to "response fatigue," as the case count in South Africa topped half a million.

Dozens of doctors' groups on Saturday warned that the Philippines was losing the coronavirus fight, urging President Rodrigo Duterte to tighten a recently eased lockdown as cases surged and hospitals turned away patients.

America's top infectious diseases official has raised concerns over the safety of COVID-19 vaccines being developed by China and Russia as the world scrambles for answers to a pandemic the WHO warned will be felt for decades.

Six months after sounding its top alarm over the new coronavirus outbreak, the WHO's emergency committee meets for a fourth time Friday to assess the raging pandemic.

Small groups of pilgrims performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year's pilgrimage and celebrations.

The last days of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice," in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.