- Indonesia recorded its largest daily jump in infections, with 4,168 new cases.
- France has logged a record daily jump of more than 13,000 new cases.
- Spain ordered a partial lockdown in its capital, Madrid, and the surrounding region.
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his country was seeing a second wave of COVID-19, adding that while he did not want a second national lockdown, the government may need to introduce new restrictions.
- More than 30.5 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and 952,404 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Some 20.7 million people have recovered.
Here are the latest updates:
Saturday, September 19
12:32 GMT – Nigerians elect governor in pandemic’s first poll
Nigerians in the southern state of Edo braved the coronavirus and went to the polls to elect a new governor in the country’s first election since the start of the pandemic.
The poll comes as Nigeria struggles to contain the spread of the virus which has so far infected some 56,956 people and killed 1,096.
More than 1.7 million voters in Edo are expected to elect a new governor for another four years amid heavy security, with gun-wielding police officers and soldiers seen on major roads, screening vehicles.
11:56 GMT – Germany’s Merkel asserts need to upgrade school technology
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need for massive upgrades of school technology around the country.
Merkel said during her weekly video podcast that teachers were left scrambling to teach courses virtually when schools closed at the start of the country’s outbreak.
She says that underscored how important digital media and other tools are but also exposed widespread infrastructure failings.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel [Odd Andersen/Pool/Reuters]
11:20 GMT – Indonesia reports its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections
Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections, with 4,168 new cases, taking the total to 240,687, data from the country’s health ministry showed.
The data added 112 new deaths, taking the total to 9,448, the biggest death toll in Southeast Asia.
10:45 GMT – Spike in France’s daily COVID-19 death toll tied to unreported hospital cases
A sudden jump in France’s daily death toll from COVID-19 stems from previously unreported cases in one hospital near Paris, according to statements by health authorities.
The health ministry reported on Friday that the total number of deaths from COVID-19 increased by 154 to 31,249, a four-month high in the daily death toll and triple the levels of the past week.
That figure included 76 deaths registered in a hospital near Paris, according to an explanatory note issued online by Sante Publique France, the country’s national health agency that reports new COVID-19 cases every day.
Medical workers tend a COVID-19 patient at a Strasbourg hospital in eastern France [File: Jean-Francois Badias/AP]
10:05 GMT – Iran’s coronavirus death toll climbs above 24,000
Iran’s coronavirus death toll has risen by 166 to 24,118, a health ministry spokeswoman told state television.
The total number of identified cases spiked by 2,845 in the last 24 hours to 419,043 in Iran, one of the Middle East’s worst-hit countries, spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari was quoted as saying.
09:28 GMT – Poland reports record daily coronavirus cases
Poland reported 1,002 new coronavirus cases, according to the health ministry’s Twitter account, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began.
The new record comes days after authorities tightened conditions under which doctors are obliged to send patients for testing. Critics say the new rules may limit the number of people going for tests.
A woman looks at clothing at Polish fashion retailer Reserved’s shop in Warsaw [Kacper Pempel/Reuters]
08:50 GMT – Mainland China reports 14 new COVID-19 cases vs 32 a day earlier
Mainland China reported 14 new COVID-19 cases on September 18, down from 32 cases reported a day earlier, the Chinese national health authority said.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that all new cases were imported infections involving travellers from overseas. It also reported 24 new asymptomatic cases, up from 20 a day earlier, though China does not classify these patients without symptoms as confirmed COVID-19 cases.
08:15 GMT – Russia’s new COVID cases surpass 6,000 for first time in two months
Russia reported 6,065 new coronavirus cases, the first time the daily tally has been higher than 6,000 in two months. The national tally of infections rose to 1,097,251.
The coronavirus crisis centre said 144 people had died of the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the Russian death toll to 19,339.
Russia has…
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