Highlights: President Rouhani announces new Covid-19 restrictions in Iran

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 455 fresh cases of Covid-19 and seven new fatalities, pushing the cumulative tally to 94,785 and the death toll is 1,478, according to official reports.

Jammu division saw 161 new cases while the Kashmir valley saw 294, as on Saturday. The active cases stand at 6,419 and 86,888 patients have recovered from the infection so far.

Uttarakhand has reported 413 new Covid-19 infections, with total cases in the state recorded at 62,328. In the last 24 hours, 12 patients have died, pushing the death toll to 1,023, according to the health bulletin.

A total of 56,293 people have recovered in the state.

President Hassan Rouhani has announced new restrictions in Iran, effective for 10 days from Wednesday, in 25 of the total 31 provinces. Authorities have blamed the public's failure to compliance with health protocols for the sharp surge in cases, The president also announced that an operations headquarters would be set up to ensure compliance.

Total Covid-19 deaths rose by 386 over the past 24 hours to reach 34,864, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV on Saturday, adding total cases rose by 7,820 to 612,772.

Covid-19 infections in Malaysia rose to a total of 31,548 with 659 new cases reported on Saturday, according to the data released from its health ministry. Local transmissions in the city account for 658 cases and only one case was imported. The recovery rate was reported to be 67.4 per cent after 1,000 patients were discharged on Saturday. Current active cases stand at 10,051 with 83 patients in intensive care, reports ANI.

With 1320 new infections and 18 fatalities reported on Saturday, Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh reached 407,684 and the death toll in the country stood at 5,923. Official data on Covid-19 showed that 11,532 samples were tested across the country in the last 24 hours and the fatality rate is 1.45 per cent.

Data from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) also showed that 1,442 recoveries were reported on Saturday alone and recovery rate reached 79.51 per cent, according to news agency ANI.

Amid rising Covid-19 cases, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering a month-long nationwide lockdown. Likely restrictions by Johnson-led government come even as the experts have warned that the viral contagion was spreading faster than their worst predictions.

Reports quoting government sources suggested that an announcement was expected as early as Monday, news agency PTI reported.

More than 150 patients were evacuated on Saturday from a makeshift coronavirus hospital in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in the southern Urals following an oxygen explosion and fire, the emergency ministry said, reports Reuters.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday declared a partial coronavirus lockdown, shutting down restaurants and other leisure activities in Athens and other major cities from Tuesday, reports AFP.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Russia has increased by 18,140 to 1,618,116 in the last 24 hours, the response center said on Saturday. The growth rate of Covid-19 cases is at 1.1 percent, reports ANI.

India's Covid-19 case fatality rate (CFR) fell below 1.5 per cent on Saturday, the Union health ministry said, crediting the Centre-led strategy of 'test, trace, track and treat' for keeping coronavirus-related deaths low and within manageable numbers, reports PTI.

Indonesia reported 3,143 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, taking the country's total to 410,088, according to the health ministry website.There were also 87 new deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 13,869, reports Reuters.

Czech Republic reported 13,605 new coronavirus cases on Friday and 216 new deaths, Health Ministry data showed on Saturday. The total number of cases in the country of 10.7 million stood at 323,673, while deaths reached 3,078, reports Reuters.

Puducherry's Covid-19 tally on Saturday mounted to 35,013 after 105 fresh cases were reported. The active cases are not at 3,697 whereas 30,724 have recovered so far, director of health and family welfare S Mohan Kumar said, reports PTI.

The BJP's promise of providing free coronavirus vaccine in its manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls is not violative of the provisions of the model code, the Election Commission has held. Responding to a complaint by RTI activist Saket Gokhale, the commission said it has found no violation of the provisions of the model code in the issue, reports PTI.

Europe’s battle to check a dramatic surge in coronavirus infections is entering its next phase, with the continent’s two powerhouse economies clamping down on movement for at least a month while trying to limit the impact on business activity. Germany will begin a partial shutdown Monday while France started its version of “lockdown lite” on Friday, reports Bloomberg.