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deaths have been registered worldwide, figures compiled by AFP from official sources showed, driven by surges in Latin America and India.

The United States has recorded the most deaths with almost 160,000, followed by Brazil with nearly 100,000. Globally, 40 percent of all cases have been notched in the two countries.

US DEATH TOLL SOARS

Daily coronavirus deaths in the US surged to a three-month high of 2,060 on Thursday, a tracker by Johns Hopkins University showed.

But other corners of the globe were also marking grim milestones, with Mexico’s official toll soaring above 50,000 dead and the continent of Africa hitting one million confirmed cases.

More than half of Africa’s infections are in South Africa, which has the fifth highest number of infections in the world, after the US, Brazil, India and Russia.

Nevertheless the African continent remains one of the least affected, according to the official figures, with only Oceania registering fewer Covid-19 cases.

Europe remains the hardest-hit region worldwide with more than 200,000 fatalities since the virus first emerged in China late last year.

As governments across the globe struggle to salvage economies ravaged by months of lockdown, many have been forced to look at new measures to curb outbreaks of Covid-19 since they lifted initial containment orders.

Such is the case in Europe where nations imposed new travel restrictions and containment measures with fears growing over a second wave of infections.

In Australia, the second-largest city Melbourne entered the country’s toughest lockdown yet on Thursday, closing non-essential businesses and requiring hundreds of thousands more people to stay home.

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

Germany is the latest to introduce mandatory tests for travelers returning from designated risk zones, starting today, as fears grow over rising case numbers blamed on summer holidays and local outbreaks.

Germany’s list of “risk zones” currently includes most non-EU countries, as well as certain provinces in Belgium and Spain.

Neighboring Austria on Thursday announced it would issue a travel warning for mainland Spain, becoming the latest country to do so amid a rise in new coronavirus cases in the fellow EU member.

Finland also introduced new controls on arrivals from some EU countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Andorra, putting a stop to tourists arriving from there and imposing a 14-day quarantine on other returnees.

“The situation is extremely delicate,” the health ministry’s strategic director Liisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki said, adding that “some sort of second stage has begun.”

Britain has reimposed quarantine for travelers from Belgium, Andorra and the Bahamas.

Norway announced Thursday that France would be considered a red zone due to the resurgence of coronavirus cases there, meaning all travellers arriving from France face a mandatory ten-day quarantine.

Switzerland, Monaco and the Czech Republic were also hit with similar restrictions, as well as two Swedish regions, the Norwegian foreign affairs ministry said.

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