'Progression not over'

Two weeks ago France was registering about 20,000 new daily infections, with about 20 people a day entering intensive care units. On Friday 122 people were admitted to intensive care units.

"The progression of the epidemic is not over," Prime Minister Jean Castex said. "We still have hard times ahead of us."

A curfew in Paris and eight other major cities was extended on Friday to large parts of rural France. The lockdown, between 9 pm and 6 am, will now cover 46 million people, or more than two-thirds of the population, and will remain in place for six weeks.

The World Health Organization said on Saturday that it will provide $2 million in aid for Iraq to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has infected more than 449,000 Iraqis.

Wael Hatahit, head of the WHO's emergency team in Iraq, said the agency will provide medical assistance for Iraq during the last months of this year to support the country's health sector in containing the virus.

In Africa the number of confirmed cases in the continent had reached 1,696,286, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Saturday.

The death toll related to the pandemic stood at 40,922 on Saturday afternoon, the agency said.

A total of 1,394,094 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent, it said.

Xinhua - Agencies