Lebanon's deepening economic crisis has piled pressure on hospitals, leaving them ill-equipped to face any new wave of the coronavirus, a top hospital director has warned.

Thousands marched through Australia's two biggest cities in anti-lockdown protests Saturday, sparking violent clashes with police in Sydney.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 4,139,040 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT on Friday.

At least 192,534,990 cases of coronavirus have been registered.

Hospitals in crisis-hit Lebanon have warned of a looming "catastrophe" as some were only hours away from running out of fuel to keep life-saving equipment on during endless state power cuts.

The French government's top advisor on Covid-19 warned Friday that a new variant of the disease would "probably" emerge in the winter months this year.

The country is currently battling an unprecedented spike in new cases caused by the more infectious Delta variant, which was first recorded in India.

China on Thursday said a WHO proposal to audit Chinese labs as part of further investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic showed "disrespect" and "arrogance towards science."

India's coronavirus death toll is up to 10 times higher than the nearly 415,000 fatalities reported by authorities, likely making it the country's worst humanitarian disaster since independence, a U.S. research group said Tuesday.

Tokyo's Olympic Village was hit by a fourth coronavirus case on Monday and major sponsor Toyota said it would not run any Games-related TV ads as the event struggled for support just days before the opening ceremony.

A Czech beach volleyball player became the fourth case and the third infected athlete in the Village, where thousands of competitors are living in a bio secure "bubble".

Iran on Monday announced strict curbs in the capital Tehran and a nearby province to stem the spread of Covid-19, as daily infections drew close to an all-time high.

President Hassan Rouhani had earlier this month warned of a "fifth wave" because of an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant in the Middle East's hardest-hit country.

Top U.S. scientist Anthony Fauci on Saturday blasted commentators who sound an anti-vaccination theme, saying America might still be battling smallpox and polio if today's kind of misinformation existed back then.