World in brief...

INDIA reported nearly 55,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday and Japan recorded more than 1,500 for a second day, while Florida was braced for a tropical storm that threatened to hamper efforts to combat the disease.

A curfew was imposed on Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, following a rise in infections.

The United States, India and South Africa are struggling to rein in their first wave of infections, while other countries where the disease abated try to avert a second wave.

India’s 54,735 new cases were down from the previous day’s record 57,118, but raised the country’s total to 1.75 million. July accounted for more than 1.1 million of those cases. Cinemas and other public facilities are closed until August 31.

The Philippines reported 5,032 new cases, raising its total to 103,185, with 2,059 deaths.

In Japan, the government said all but five of its 1,540 new cases were transmitted domestically. The daily total was close to Friday’s record of 1,579.

In Florida, authorities reported 179 deaths on Saturday, raising its total to more than 7,000.

In Australia, Premier Daniel Andrews of the southern state of Victoria announced an 8pm to 5am curfew on Melbourne, a city of five million people. There were seven deaths and 671 new cases since Saturday.

Also yesterday, China and South Korea reported more infections but spikes in both countries appeared to be tailing off.

China had 49 new confirmed cases, up from the previous day’s 45. Thirty were in Xinjiang in the northwest.

Three cases were found in students who returned from Russia to Wuhan.

Hong Kong reported 125 new infections as authorities tried to find the source of its latest outbreak.

South Korea reported 30 new cases, raising its total to 14,366 with 301 deaths, but said only eight were acquired in the country.

Governments worldwide have reported 684,075 deaths and 17.8 million cases, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has the world’s biggest number of cases at 4.6 million, or one-quarter of the total, and 154,361 deaths.

On Saturday, South Africa reported 10,107 new cases, raising its total past half a million to 503,290.

The number of new cases reported in Italy dipped below 300 for the first time.