Mask-clad Muslim pilgrims on Wednesday began the annual hajj, dramatically downsized this year as the Saudi hosts strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.

China reported 101 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, its highest single-day figure in three months, as gyms, bars and museums closed in infection hotspots.

Pilgrims were quarantined Tuesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca ahead of the dramatically downsized hajj as Saudi authorities strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage.

Nearly 45 million people in 13 countries in southern Africa are food-insecure as a result of drought and flood and the impact of coronavirus, the region's bloc said Tuesday.

Iran reported 235 new deaths from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, a record toll for a single day in the Middle East's hardest-hit country.

The rapid rise in Germany's coronavirus numbers is very worrying, the country's Robert Koch Institute for disease control said Tuesday, urging citizens to keep their distance and wear face masks.

A new coronavirus cluster in a port city in northeast China has spread to other provinces and prompted fresh restrictions, authorities said Tuesday, as Beijing scrambles to prevent a second wave of infections.

US President Donald Trump vowed to defeat the coronavirus by "unleashing American scientific genius" as he toured a COVID-19 vaccine facility in the swing state of North Carolina on Monday.

Officials around the world reintroduced a raft of restrictions Monday -- from beach closures to quarantine measures -- to try to tamp down coronavirus hotspots as the official global death toll passed 650,000.

China on Monday reported its highest number of coronavirus cases in three months, part of a worrying swell of second and third-wave infections that are hitting Asia and Europe.