• India is generating the highest number of daily new cases in the world for the last 18 days, with over 50,000 fresh cases everyday. 

• More than 23.1 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 around the world, and more than 14.91 million have recovered. At least 804,400 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

• Mexico’s death toll has surpassed 60,000 – the third-highest in the world even as signs of hope emerge, with the government saying that the COVID-19 scourge is in “sustained decline”.

• The new coronavirus is circulating four times more among people under 40 in France than among over-65-year-olds, France’s Health Minister Olivier Veran said as the country reported an additional 3,602 new COVID-19 cases .

Here are the latest updates:

Sunday, August 23

06:38 GMT – UK PM Johnson says failure to reopen schools not an option

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told allies that “failure to reopen schools is not an option”, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Earlier this month, Johnson said reopening schools in September was a social, economic and moral imperative, insisting schools would be able to operate safely despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sunday Times reported this month that Johnson had ordered a public relations campaign to ensure schools open on time.

05:40 GMT – India surpasses 3 million COVID-19 cases

India’s coronavirus tally crossed the 3 million case mark, the country’s health ministry said.

The country crossed that mark just 16 days after the number of cases crossed 2 million.

An update released by the health ministry showed the death toll stands at 56,706. In the last 24 hours, the country recorded close to 70,000 new cases.

Ministry figures show the western state of Maharashtra reported the highest number of cases in the country.

Hello, this is Linah Alsaafin taking over from my colleague Ted Regencia.

04:45 GMT – Germany reports 782 new COVID-19 cases

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, which is monitoring the spread of infectious diseases in the country, has reported on Sunday at least 782 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the country’s total to at least 232,864.

The country also reported two more deaths, bringing the total fatalities to 9,269.

At least 207,600 patients have recovered, which is equivalent to 89 percent recovery rate.

04:30 GMT- Australia’s Victoria reports another 208 new coronavirus infections

Australia’s state of Victoria reported another 208 new cases and 17 new deaths on Sunday.

Australia now has a total of more than 24,800 and 502 deaths, including 415 in Victoria.

But Victoria’s top health official, Peter Sutton, made an assurance that overall the situation remains positive, and that if the trend continues, he expects the daily numbers below 150 next week.

04:05 GMT – Italy links surge in new cases to vacationers from Sardinia

Vacationers returning to the Italian mainland from Sardinia helped push Italy’s daily new coronavirus caseload far past 1,000, reaching the high for the first time since early May.

Confirmed cases increased from 947 on Friday to 1,071 on Saturday, with many infections confirmed in travelers who were tested as they disembarked from airplanes or ferries.

Authorities in Lazio, the south-central region including Rome, say 45 percent of its 215 new cases Saturday were from people returning from Sardinia, where several clusters have been linked to discos or private parties on the posh Emerald Coast resort area.

While the average age of infection early in the outbreak hovered near 70, it’s now 30.

Italy has more than 258,000 confirmed cases. With three more deaths, the known total has reached 35,400.

03:40 GMT – China reports 12 new COVID-19 cases

China’s National Health Commission reported on Sunday at least 12 new confirmed coronavirus cases, bringing to over 89,600 the total number of infections.

The agency also said that the death toll since the outbreak started in the city of Wuhan stands at 4,634 with no new deaths.

According to the government, 422 patients remain in the hospital with 16 of them in critical condition.

02:15 GMT – South Korea reports highest daily COVID-19 cases since March

Health authorities said many of the new cases were traced to a church in northern Seoul and a massive weekend rally also in the capital [Ahn Young-joon/AP]

South Korea’s daily new virus cases spiked to 397 on Sunday – the highest since March 7- as infections were reported in all major cities and provinces across the country, according to Yonhap news agency quoting the health ministry.

Of the new cases, 387 were local infections, 297 of them in Seoul and the surrounding areas, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The country’s total caseload has risen to 17,399.

Health authorities said many of the new cases were traced to a church in northern Seoul and a massive weekend rally also in the capital.

The country, however, reported no new deaths, keeping its fatality at 309.

01:58 GMT – Mexico’s coronavirus deaths pass 60,000, cases top 550,000

Mexico coronavirus death toll has surpassed 60,000 after the country’s health ministry reported 644 additional fatalities.

The government also said that there were 6,482 new confirmed coronavirus infections as of the end of Saturday, bringing the total number of cases to 556,216 cases.

00:20 GMT – Coronavirus spreading four times more among 40-year-olds in France

The new coronavirus is circulating four times more among people under 40 in France than among over-65-year-olds, Reuters News Agency quoted France’s health minister as saying.

“We’re in a risky situation,” Olivier Veran said in an interview with France’s Journal Du Dimanche (JDD) published on Sunday, adding that the higher number of cases being detected was not solely down to more testing.

Like President Emmanuel Macron, Veran ruled out the need for another total lockdown to combat the spread of the disease. But he said localised measures could be taken as cases grow in France and elsewhere.

France reported a 3,602 spike in new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours on Saturday, a smaller rise than the previous day. Earlier in the week, however, the number of daily cases reached a post-lockdown high.

00:01 GMT – Brazil registers 50,032 new cases of coronavirus, 892 deaths in 24 hours

Brazil has reported 50,032 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 892 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters News Agency citing the health ministry.

Brazil has registered 3,582,362 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 114,250, according to ministry data from the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak outside the United States. 

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

For all the key developments from Saturday, August 22, go here.