The United States on Sunday recorded 55,187 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University reported in its real-time tally.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday begins hosting the annual hajj pilgrimage, dramatically downscaled due to the coronavirus pandemic that has barred millions of international pilgrims for the first time in modern history.

Jordan will reopen its airports to commercial flights next month after a near five-month shutdown imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, an official said Sunday.

Pakistan has seen an 80-per cent drop in coronavirus deaths but risks a spike in new cases after the upcoming Eid festival, a government health official said Sunday.

The British government on Sunday defended its decision to impose an immediate requirement for passengers arriving from Spain to self-isolate amid a resurgence of coronavirus in the popular holiday destination.

North Korean authorities have imposed a lockdown on the border city of Kaesong after discovering what they say is the country's first suspected coronavirus case, state media reported Sunday.

Leader Kim Jong Un convened an emergency politburo meeting on Saturday to implement a "maximum emergency system and issue a top-class alert" to contain the virus, the official Korean Central News Agency said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to roll out a £10 million anti-obesity campaign, including junk food advert bans, following his own brush with death that he partly blamed on his weight.

Brazil is being battered by the coronavirus crisis, but the damage is uneven across the sprawling South American country, where experts say chaotic policy-making has only made a complicated situation worse.

Thousands of Israelis have protested in Jerusalem and other cities including Tel Aviv, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation over his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The global number of coronavirus cases crossed 16 million on Sunday, more than half of them in the Americas and the Caribbean, according to an AFP tally from official sources at 0510 GMT.