Health staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) conduct morning exercises with patients suffering mild symptoms of the COVID-19 coronavirus at an emergency hospital in Surabaya on August 17, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 775,926 with the global confirmed cases reaching 21,707,773 as of 8:00 pm BJT on Monday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Current status (data as of 8:00 pm BJT, Aug 17):

New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern postponed the country's general election on Monday by a month to October 17 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a growing coronavirus outbreak.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 5.4 million on Sunday, and the death toll has surpassed the 170,000 mark, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Most parts of Kazakhstan begin to ease their second coronavirus lockdown from Aug 17 but would keep in place some strict measures such as weekend lockdowns, TengriNews reported on Monday.

At the start of this year, most universities in Bangladesh lacked basic learning management systems and digital infrastructure. So, when institutions were required to close because of Covid-19, educators  could no longer teach.

India's death toll from the coronavirus hit 50,000 on Monday, with more than 900 new fatalities reported in 24 hours, health ministry data showed.

Israel has launched a plan to support industrial production of COVID-19 medical devices and equipment, the state's Ministry of Economy and Industry said on Sunday.