Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2020) As of 17:30 GMT on Sunday, the global COVID-19 case total stood at 30.8 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, with the worldwide death toll having exceeded 958,000.

The United States is still the world leader in terms of cases and deaths, with more than 6.7 million positive tests and 199,352 fatalities, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

On Saturday evening, the NBC news broadcaster, which uses its own tally for COVID-19 fatalities, said that the US death toll was already in excess of 200,000.

India, which currently has the world's fastest-growing outbreak of COVID-19, registered 92,605 new positive tests over the past day as the country's case total surged past 5.4 million.

After breaking its single-day record for new COVID-19 cases three days running, the number of new positive tests reported in France over the past 24 hours fell to 10,569, the country's Public Health Agency announced on Sunday. A total of 13,498 positive tests were recorded on Saturday.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care also confirmed 3,899 new positive tests on Sunday, down from the 4,422 new cases registered one day ago.

In Lebanon, public health officials registered a single-day record of 1,006 new positive tests.

The World Health Organization's office in Serbia told Sputnik on Sunday that the worsening of the epidemiological situation in the Balkans and the rest of Europe stems from the public's failure to comply with the measures against COVID-19 and requires strengthened control by the authorities.

Russia has restored international flights with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and South Korea, with citizens and permanent residents of the four countries allowed to enter Russia following the easing of the coronavirus-related measures, the Russian cabinet's press department said on Sunday.

One flight a week will operate from the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan, the Belarusian capital Minsk, and Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, from Monday. Flights from Seoul, the South Korean capital, will resume from September 27, the cabinet said.

Citizens and permanent residents of the four aforementioned countries will be allowed to enter Russia. In turn, Russian citizens will also be permitted fly to these countries.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged people on Sunday to follow social distancing restrictions to avoid another national lockdown.

"If people break the rules, then we are more likely to end up with national measures," Hancock told the BBC broadcaster.

According to the UK's Guardian newspaper, people in England will face fines between nearly $1,300 and $13,000 for violating quarantine measures aimed at stopping the second wave of the coronavirus infection in the UK from September 28.

Thousands of residents of Spain's Community of Madrid took to the streets on Sunday to protest against the regional government's handling of the new surge in COVID-19 cases, the spokeswoman for the far-left Unidas Podemos political party in the Madrid Assembly, Isabel Serra, said.

Earlier in the week, the Madrid regional government announced new restrictions for people living in 37 basic health areas of the Community. The measures, which mostly apply to areas populated by migrants and lower-income households, envisage that people would be allowed to go out only to school, work or for medical appointments. Parks and green areas would also be closed, and restaurants should limit occupancy to 50 percent.

The annual Moscow Marathon was staged in the Russian capital on Sunday. The route took in some of Moscow's most famous landmarks, including the Kremlin, and high epidemiological standards were maintained in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.