The Muslim world, meanwhile, is celebrating Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, with many counties having introduced new restrictions to prevent infections at large religious gatherings.
Separately, United Nations (UN) agencies have warned that the pandemic threatens some 80 million infants with vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, diphtheria, and poliomyelitis due to the disruption of routine immunization.
The followings are updates about the pandemic from around the globe:
South Korea reports 25 new cases
South Korea on Sunday reported 25 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of infections in the country to 11,190.
Eight of the new cases came from overseas, and 17 were locally transmitted.
The death toll in South Korea remained unchanged at 266, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement.
China registers 3 new cases
China registered three new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection for Saturday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said Sunday.
This came a day after health officials detected no new cases, for the first time since the outbreak began in December last year.
Of the new cases, two were imported, and one was locally transmitted, the Chinese commission said.
With no additional deaths, mainland China’s total death toll remained at 4,638.
Brazil reports 965 more deaths, indigenous people dying at high rate
In Brazil, some 965 people lost their lives due to complications caused by the coronavirus on Saturday, taking the country’s overall death toll to 22,013, the Health Ministry said.
The country now has reported 347,398 confirmed cases, according to the ministry, up by 16,508 from Friday.
Brazil has already surpassed Russia in the number of cases and become the world’s second epicenter of the virus, after the United States.
Brazil became the world No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases, trailing only to the US, after it confirmed that 330,890 people had been infected by the virus.
Yet, the true number of patients and fatalities is believed to be higher than the official figures, as the government’s testing capacity still lags.
Amid the outbreak, the country’s indigenous people are dying at an alarming rate, as they are living in remote areas of the Amazon region with little access to healthcare and no help from the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
The indigenous community, with a population of 900,000, has had some 125 deaths and more than 980 confirmed cases of infection, according to advocacy group Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB).
The figures suggest a mortality rate of 12.6 percent — compared to the national rate of 6.4 percent, according to APIB.
Other Latin American countries have also seen steep rises in cases, with Mexico having reported its biggest daily increase in confirmed cases of 3,329 on Saturday, Peru an increase of 4,056 cases, and Chile of 3,536.
