At least 20,147,625 people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 735,369 people have died, a Reuters tally showed. 

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. 

The World Health Organization referred to the outbreak as a pandemic on March 11. 

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS 

At least 5,110,473 cases of the highly contagious novel coronavirus have been reported in the United States and its territories while at least 163,160 people have died, according to a Reuters tally of state and local government sources as of August 11, 2020, 01:13 pm. The US diagnosed its first COVID-19 case in Washington state on January 20. 

Likewise, Brazil follows the US with a total of 3,057,470 coronavirus cases with 101,752 death, according to Reuters’ interactive graphic tracking the global spread. 

Likewise, India has the third-highest 2,268,675 coronavirus cases while 45,257 people have died. 

The United States is considering blocking citizens and permanent residents from returning home if they are suspected of being COVID-19 positive, while England is set to make its test-and-trace scheme more locally targeted. 

EUROPE 

— British consumers spent the most last month since the country went into a coronavirus lockdown in March, as pubs, restaurants, barbers and beauty salons reopened. 

— Germany has agreed to extend a ban for spectators in stadiums at Bundesliga soccer matches until at least the end of October. 

— The French health ministry on Monday reported the first significant rise in the number of people in hospitals due to the new coronavirus since the end of the country's lockdown. 

AMERICAS 

— Republican and Democratic governors said President Donald Trump's coronavirus relief measures were too expensive for states to implement and called on officials in Washington to resume negotiations on federal aid. 

— California's top public health officer has resigned following data-collection failures that led to an undercount of coronavirus cases as the state was reporting a downward trend in infections. 

— Sunbathers wanting to visit Rio de Janeiro's famous beaches, despite Brazil's raging COVID-19 epidemic, could soon be able to reserve socially distant sand space through a mobile app. 

ASIA-PACIFIC 

— Australia's second-most populous state reported a small rise in new infections on Tuesday, boosting hopes that case numbers are stabilising. 

— Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape is pressing ahead with plans to lift lockdown measures in the Pacific nation this week. 

— Pakistanis flocked to gyms, salons and restaurants that opened on Monday for the first time in five months. 

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA 

— Iran shut down a newspaper after it quoted a former member of the national coronavirus task force as saying the country's tolls from the epidemic could be 20 times higher than official figures. 

— Many urban families in Kenya are now looking to their rural families, to whom they once sent regular cash for support, to help deal with the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. 

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS 

— Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc expects its experimental vaccine to enter mid-to-late stage study in September and secure US emergency use approval sometime in 2021. 

— Novavax Inc's manufacturing capacity is sufficient to meet the US demand for COVID-19 vaccines in 2021, company executives said. 

— Gilead Sciences Inc said it has filed a marketing application with the US Food and Drug Administration for its experimental COVID-19 drug, remdesivir. 

— Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has begun Phase III clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in Bahrain. 

ECONOMIC FALLOUT 

— Asian stock markets rose on relief that another round of US-China sparring appears not to have spilled over into trade, while hopes for US stimulus lent support to oil and commodity currencies. 

— Singapore's record recession was deeper than first thought in the second quarter, data showed on Tuesday, signalling a lengthy path to recovery. 

— Japan posted its smallest current account surplus in more than five years in June, Ministry of Finance data showed on Tuesday, mainly due to a slump in exports. 

— The Bank of England will step up quantitative easing if the British economy slows and struggles again, Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden told The Times newspaper.