Wearing full protective gear including a white suit and plastic visor, Ukrainian doctor Marta Saiko checked on an elderly patient hooked up to a ventilator.

Morocco reported Sunday 698 additional novel coronavirus infections, the highest one-day increase since the outbreak began in early March, with numerous cases discovered in a port city factory.

A central Athens brothel was buzzing with clients on a recent hot July afternoon, and its Venezuelan workers were relieved to have the business.

India added a record number of coronavirus cases Sunday, approaching Russia as the world's third-most infected nation as it opens a mass treatment center in the capital to fight the pandemic.

Britain's police said Sunday that revelers who packed London's Soho district the night pubs finally reopened made it "crystal clear" that drunk people cannot socially distance.

Iranian health authorities on Sunday announced 163 new deaths due to the COVID-19 disease, the country's highest official one-day toll since the outbreak began in February.

Famed Egyptian actress Ragaa al-Geddawy died on Sunday after contracting the COVID-19 disease, the actors union said. She was 81. 

"Ragaa al-Geddawy passed away this morning due to COVID-19," union head Ashraf Zaki told AFP. 

A surge in coronavirus cases sapped the fun out of July 4 celebrations in the United States as the pandemic also accelerated through neighboring Mexico, the rest of Latin America and South Africa.

Russia on Saturday said that it recorded more than 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, a toll that is still far lower than in other countries with major outbreaks.

A state-linked technology company in the United Arab Emirates has signed a partnership with two major Israeli defense firms to research ways of combating the coronavirus pandemic.

The agreement, announced late Thursday, comes just weeks after the UAE warned Israel that proceeding with its planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank would upend its efforts to improve ties with Arab states.