Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of coronavirus

FILE PHOTO: People line up in their vehicles to undergo the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests, distributed by the Wisconsin National Guard at the United Migrant Opportunity Services center, as cases spread in the Midwest, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Alex Wroblewski

FILE PHOTO: People line up in their vehicles to undergo the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) tests, distributed by the Wisconsin National Guard at the United Migrant Opportunity Services center, as cases spread in the Midwest, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., October 2, 2020. REUTERS/Alex Wroblewski

Reuters

US President Donald Trump said the next few days will be the "real test" of his treatment for COVID-19, after a series of contradictory messages from the White House caused widespread confusion about his condition.

AMERICAS

* U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday said progress was being made on coronavirus relief legislation to respond to the economic fallout from a pandemic that has killed more than 207,000 Americans and thrown millions out of work.

* New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, to contain the spread of COVID-19 in what was once the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, said he was moving to shut non-essential businesses as well as schools in nine neighborhoods identified as coronavirus clusters, starting Wednesday.

* Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden tested negative again for COVID-19 on Sunday in a polymerase chain reaction test, his campaign said, according to a press pool report.

* Biden opened his widest lead in a month in the U.S. presidential race after Trump tested positive for coronavirus, and a majority of Americans think Trump could have avoided infection if he had taken the virus more seriously, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

* U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings will proceed as planned even though two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have contracted the virus.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand's largest city will be lifted this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday as she expressed confidence a second wave of infections in Auckland has been almost eliminated.

* India hopes to receive up to 500 million doses of coronavirus vaccine by July to inoculate about 250 million people, health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday, as infections continue to surge.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Mecca slowly stirred from a seven-month hibernation on Sunday as pilgrims trickled in after Saudi authorities partially lifted a coronavirus ban on performing umrah - a pilgrimage to Islam's two holiest sites that is undertaken at any time of year.

EUROPE

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 1,382 to 300,619, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

* Thousands of demonstrators in southern Germany protested against coronavirus restrictions over the weekend, police said on Sunday, although organisers failed to mobilise enough people for a planned human chain around Lake Constance.

* Police set up controls and stopped cars on major roads into and out of Madrid on Saturday as the city went back into lockdown due to surging coronavirus cases.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* Cineworld,  the world's second-biggest cinema operator, will close all its screens in the United States, Britain and Ireland this week after studios pulled major releases such as the latest James Bond film, a person familiar with the situation said.