The small, neighboring sheikhdoms of Bahrain and Qatar have the world's highest per capita rates of coronavirus infections. In the two Mideast countries, COVID-19 epidemics initially swept undetected through camps housing healthy and young foreign laborers, studies now show.

In Qatar, a new study found that nearly 60% of those testing positive showed no symptoms at all, calling into question the usefulness of mass temperature checks meant to stop the infected from mingling with others. In Bahrain, authorities put the asymptomatic figure even higher, at 68%.

Anyone venturing out in Australia's second-biggest city was ordered Thursday to wear a mask as authorities struggle to contain multiple coronavirus clusters in the country's southeast.

Most people seen by AFP on the quiet streets of Melbourne's city centre wore masks in the second week of a six-week local lockdown.

Amid mounting calls for Israel's government to appoint a dedicated coronavirus response coordinator, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has named a public health professional to the post, his office said Thursday.

It said in a statement that the job went to Ronnie Gamzu, CEO of Tel Aviv's Sourasky medical complex.

At least 15,007,291 cases of the new coronavirus, including 617,603 deaths, have been detected worldwide since the pandemic emerged late last year, according to an AFP tally on Wednesday.

The development of a coronavirus vaccine or treatment will be key to allowing the postponed Tokyo 2020 games to open in a year's time, organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said Wednesday.

The coronavirus death toll in the United States has spiked again with Donald Trump conceding the pandemic crisis will get worse, as record infections in Australia underscored second-wave dilemmas globally.

The World Health Organization's actions during the coronavirus pandemic led to "dead Britons", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers during a trip to London, British media reported Wednesday.

One of the great mysteries of the coronavirus is how quickly it rocketed around the world.

It first flared in central China and, within three months, was on every continent but Antarctica, shutting down daily life for millions. Behind the rapid spread was something that initially caught scientists off guard, baffled health authorities and undermined early containment efforts — the virus could be spread by seemingly healthy people.

Scientists have known for several months the new coronavirus can become suspended in microdroplets expelled by patients when they speak and breathe, but until now there was no proof that these tiny particles are infectious. 

Australia reported a record 501 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, nearly four months after the pandemic initially peaked in the country, with authorities warning of a critical new phase in its two biggest cities.