The World Health Organization's European office said Thursday that the soaring number of Covid-19 cases in Europe has caused "great concern", but said the situation was still better than the peaks in April.

Almost 10 million people in the Chinese city of Qingdao have now been screened for the coronavirus, officials said Thursday, as authorities rushed to quash an outbreak through an ambitious programme of mass testing.

France on Wednesday became the latest European country to toughen anti-coronavirus measures, imposing a curfew in Paris and eight other cities from Saturday, while Germany and Ireland also ramped up restrictions. 

"We have to act. We need to put a brake on the spread of the virus," President Emmanuel Macron told public television, announcing a shutdown between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am that will remain in force for as long as six weeks.

New cases of coronavirus infections in Germany have soared to 6,638 in the past 24 hours, official data showed Thursday, reaching a daily level not seen since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitals in Paris could have up to 90 percent of intensive care beds packed with Covid-19 patients as soon as next week, the system's chief warned Tuesday, as France braces for new measures to slow a surge in cases.

Russia reported on Tuesday its highest-ever number of daily deaths and cases of people infected with Covid-19, fuelling concerns that a second wave of the pandemic is hitting the country.

A late-stage study of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine candidate has been paused while the company investigates whether a study participant's "unexplained illness" is related to the shot.

The company said in a statement Monday evening that illnesses, accidents and other so-called adverse events "are an expected part of any clinical study, especially large studies," but that its physicians and a safety monitoring panel would try to determine what might have caused the illness.

Israel has now recorded more than 2,000 deaths from the coronavirus as the country remains under lockdown for a fourth week to quell the outbreak.

The Health Ministry reported Monday night that the country had surpassed 2,000 deaths. It reported five more fatalities on Tuesday, raising the toll to 2,021.

Covid-19 patients may experience more severe symptoms the second time they are infected, according to research released Tuesday confirming it is possible to catch the potentially deadly disease more than once.

The coronavirus that causes Covid-19 can survive on items such as banknotes and phones for up to 28 days in cool, dark conditions, according to a study by Australia's national science agency.