Highlights: 2,404 new Covid-19 cases, 42 fatalities recorded in Bengal

Over 8,200 police personnel have contracted coronavirus infection in Maharashtra so far, while 93, including seven officers, have succumbed to it, an official said on Saturday.

Three elderly women succumbed to coronavirus in Puducherry while 139 fresh cases were reported on Saturday, taking the aggregate to 2,654.

Of the total number of infections in the union territory, 1,055 were active cases, 1,561 patients recovered and discharged.

South Korea on Saturday reported more than 100 new coronavirus cases for the first time in four months while South Africa announced a surge in infections and some US states tightened anti-disease controls.

Arunachal Pradesh's coronavirus tally crossed the 1,000-mark on Saturday as 65 more people, including 33 security personnel, tested positive for the disease, a Health Department official said.

With the fresh infections, the total number of cases rose to 1,056, State Surveillance Officer Dr L Jampa said.

Russia on Saturday reported 5,871 new coronavirus cases and 146 more deaths from the respiratory disease.

The nationwide tally of infections has risen to 806,720, Russia's coronavirus crisis response centre said. The death toll now stands at 13,192, and 597,140 people have recovered, reports Reuters

Himachal Pradesh's Covid-19 case tally rises to 1,992. There are 818 active cases, 1,146 recovered cases and 11 deaths: State Health Department

Almost 40 countries have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections over the past week, around double the number that did so the previous week, according to a Reuters tally showing a pick-up in the pandemic in every region of the world.

There needs to be a balance between health and economy, Maharashtra's chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday, in view of the rising Covid-19 cases in the state which has posed health and economic challenges.

"Not in favour of complete lifting of Covid-19 lockdown," Thackeray also said.

Madhya Pradesh's Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.

"My dear countrymen, I had symptoms of Covid--19 and after the test, my report has come back positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever has come in contact with me, get their corona test done. And my close contacts should go into quarantine,” he wrote on Twitetr after testing positive for the virus.

Odisha's Covid-19 tally crosses 24,000 mark with 1,320 new cases; toll rises to 130 with 10 more deaths: Health department

Pakistan reported 1,487 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 271,886 on Saturday, the health ministry said.

A total of 236,596 people have recovered from the disease, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

Jharkhand Covid-19 case rally rises to 7,627 with 377 new infections. The total number of active cases in the state is 4,197 and 3,354 recovered cases; death toll 76: State Health Department

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam took to Facebook to dispel rumours that a full lockdown would be imposed on the city as it battles a new Covid-19 wave but said stricter anti-virus measures could still come into play.

“I note that recently there have been a lot of false rumours on the internet saying that the Government will shortly implement ‘lockdown,’” she wrote in a post. “Such malicious rumours have made our anti-epidemic efforts even more difficult and should be condemned.”

"Whether it came from... a bat, a pangolin or however it emerged, it was a very, very nasty thing for the human race. And I think by the middle of next year we will be well on the way past it," UK prime minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday.

Vietnam reported its first local coronavirus infection for more than three months on Saturday after a man in the central city of Danang tested positive four times for the virus, a government statement said.

Thanks to strict quarantine measures and an aggressive and widespread testing programme, Vietnam had kept its virus total to an impressively low 415 cases, and had reported no locally transmitted infections for 100 days, reports Reuters.