A health worker with a 'rakhi' (sacred thread) tied onto his wrist sits inside an ambulance as he collects swab samples from a man for COVID-19 coronavirus, during the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan, in Kolkata on August 3, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

The total number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has increased to 689,908 with the global confirmed cases reaching 18,102,671 as of 8:30 pm BJT on Monday, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Current status (data as of 8:30 pm BJT, August 3):

World Health Organization (WHO) chief said Monday that the WHO advance team that traveled to China has concluded their mission to lay the groundwork for further joint efforts to identify the virus origins.

Hong Kong reported 80 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, snapping a 12-day streak of more than 100 new cases each day, but a health official stressed that anti-epidemic measures cannot be loosened.

Britain will roll out millions of COVID-19 tests able to detect the virus within 90 minutes without the administration of health professionals, the country's health minister Matt Hancock said Monday.

The Norwegian authorities are tracing passengers from recent Arctic voyages after at least 40 crew and passengers from a luxury cruise liner have tested positive for COVID-19, the country's public health department said on Sunday.

Europe and US colleges are facing a COVID-19 pandemic-induced reckoning. Their new semester's enrollments are down. Their budgets are being pounded, and their campuses are closed.