Qatar on Sunday began enforcing the world's toughest penalties of up to three years' imprisonment for failing to wear masks in public, as it battles one of the world's highest coronavirus infection rates.

Russia on Saturday recorded its highest daily death toll yet from the coronavirus while new cases fell to the lowest level in two weeks.

With an expert flick of the wrist, South African nurse Bhelekazi Mdlalose collected throat swabs from young men lining up for coronavirus testing at a run-down hostel in downtown Johannesburg.

Manila's malls set air conditioners to warm and switched off free wifi to stop people lingering as many of them cautiously reopened on Saturday, after a two-month lockdown that brought the sprawling hubs of community life to a halt.

Italy will reopen to tourists from early June and scrap a 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the government said on Saturday, as it quickened the exit from the coronavirus lockdown.

Beaches in France and Italy were open Saturday for the first weekend since the easing of coronavirus lockdowns while football fans awaited the return of major league action with Germany's Bundesliga set to kick off.

The World Health Organization on Friday urged countries, companies and researchers to pull down the barriers and open up their findings on COVID-19 as it unveiled a global knowledge-sharing platform.

More than 12,500 deaths of care home residents in Britain were linked to the coronavirus, according to figures released Friday, heaping further pressure on the government over its handling of the pandemic.

Dutch authorities on Friday reported the country's first coronavirus case in a dog and infections in three cats, but said chances of contamination through pets were minimal.

U.S. President Donald Trump Friday said he hoped a COVID-19 vaccine would be available by the end of the year, and announced he was appointing a former pharmaceutical executive to spearhead the effort.