A boy refreshes himself under misters in Nice, southern France, Aug 28, 2020. (DANIEL COLE / AP)

BUENOS AIRES / MEXICO CITY /  WASHINGTON / PARIS / OTTAWA  / LIMA / BUDAPEST / BOGOTA / MADRID / CAIRO / SAO PAULO - France reported 7,379 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, the most since lockdown, in what the health ministry described as an exponential surge just days before millions of children are due to return to school for the first time since March.

The daily tally was just shy of the record 7,578 high set on March 31, at the peak of an initial wave of COVID-19 infections that paralysed Europe. The surge has raised the possibility that the government could be forced to shut the country down again.

Like other hard-hit western European countries, France imposed a sudden and strict lockdown in March, during which most residents were confined to their homes. The restrictions were gradually lifted from May 11 after infections sharply dropped.

The authorities are now searching for ways to limit the spread of the disease without a new lockdown. On Friday, Parisians were ordered to wear masks at all times outdoors in the capital.

The reopening of schools on Tuesday next week has been widely anticipated as a major step back towards normality. More than 12 million children will return to school, most for the first time in more than five months.

So far, the rapid increase in case numbers has yet to lead to a similar surge in hospitalisations or deaths. The ministry reported 20 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday, raising the cumulative total to 30,596. The number of people in hospital with the disease was unchanged at 4,535 and the number in intensive care rose by six to 387.

Authorities say the virus is now spreading among younger people who are less likely to show severe symptoms.

READ MORE: France eyes lockdown as last resort in Europe’s virus fight

A patient with COVID-19, lies on a bed at the Eurnekian Ezeiza Hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Aug 13, 2020. (NATACHA PISARENKO / AP)

Argentina

Argentina registered its highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases on Friday as the government partially relaxed nationwide lockdown measures to allow outdoor get-togethers of up to 10 people wearing masks.

Restrictions related to the pandemic in the country started on March 20. The new, more relaxed rules are scheduled to last until at least Sept 20, President Alberto Fernandez said in a televised address. The country has had 392,009 confirmed cases of the coronavirus so far, 8,271 of which have been fatal.

“Today we can take a new step by authorizing meetings of up to ten people in the open air, maintaining the distance of two meters and the use of a mask. This will be in force throughout the country,” Fernandez said, although his government reported an all-time high 11,717 new cases.

The president said that while COVID-19 statistics in capital city Buenos Aires showed some positive indicators, the number of cases in the rest of the country had grown.

Brazil

A Brazilian court temporarily removed Rio de Janeiro state’s governor from office on Friday over alleged graft in the purchase of medical supplies and services to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

A raft of investigations have been opened in Brazil and other Latin American countries, including Peru, Ecuador and Mexico, into alleged corruption related to the response to the coronavirus outbreak in the world’s hardest-hit region.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced on Friday that the country registered 855 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll of COVID-19 to 119,504.

Additionally, the ministry announced that the total number of cases has reached 3,804,803, with 43,412 new cases reported in the last 24 hours.

Brazil is second only to the United States in the number of deaths and cases of COVID-19.

ALSO READ: Chinese COVID-19 vaccine undergoing testing in Brazil

Canada

Canada extended a measure barring most foreign travelers from entering the country amid continued efforts to limit the introduction and spread of the coronavirus, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said on Friday on Twitter.

The extension to Sept 30 applies to foreign travelers entering Canada from outside the United States. Canada has a separate agreement for border crossings with the United States, which is in place until Sept 21.

Colombia

Colombia on Friday reported 8,498 new COVID-19 cases and 299 related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally of confirmed cases and death toll to 590,520 and 18,767, respectively.

The Colombian Health Ministry said that 28,349 PCR tests and 6,922 antigen tests were administered over the last day.

Egypt

Egypt registered on Friday 223 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total cases in the country to 98,285, Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.

The new cases marked a slight increase in Egypt's daily COVID-19 infections, for it was the third day they exceeded 200 since Aug 1.

Hungary

Hungary will close its borders to foreigners from Sept 1 to curb a rise in coronavirus infections and Hungarians returning from abroad will have to go into quarantine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet chief said on Friday.

Gergely Gulyas said Hungarian citizens could leave the 14-day quarantine only if they provided two negative COVID tests.

Exceptions for the ban on entry for foreigners would apply to military convoys and for humanitarian transit, as well as business or diplomatic travel.

The government was considering various rules on how fans could be allowed to attend the UEFA Super Cup match between Bayern Munich and Sevilla in Budapest on Sept 24, Gulyas added.

On Friday, Hungary recorded 132 new infections, the highest daily number since the peak of the pandemic. Hungary has had a total of 5,511 coronavirus cases and 614 deaths.

Mexico

Mexico’s health ministry on Friday reported 5,824 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 552 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 585,738 cases and 63,146 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Peru

Peru will start testing coronavirus vaccines from China’s Sinopharm and US drugmaker Johnson & Johnson in September, researchers said, which should help the country gain faster access to inoculations once the vaccines are approved.

Sinopharm began this week to recruit up to 6,000 volunteers in Peru, which Reuters data indicates has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in relation to its population size. A team of Chinese scientists is expected to arrive in the Andean nation next week to work with local researchers, said Germán Málaga, a doctor and lead vaccine investigator at Lima’s Cayetano Heredia University.

Peru has recorded around 622,000 cases of the coronavirus, the fifth highest case load in the world, and 28,277 deaths. It now has the world’s deadliest fatality rate per capita, with 86.67 deaths per 100,000 people, a Reuters tally shows, just ahead of Belgium.

Sinopharm will also do clinical coronavirus vaccine trials elsewhere in Latin America, including in Argentina.

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit will start tests with some 4,000 volunteers in Peru around Sept 24, Prime Minister Walter Martos told reporters on Thursday.

Peru, a country of nearly 33 million people and the world’s no 2 copper producer, has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, both in terms of infections and economic impact. The economy crumbled over 30 percent in the second quarter of the year.

The death toll could also be higher than official figures suggest. A national registry shows that between April and August there were 68,192 more deaths compared to the same period in 2019. Excess deaths often give a better indication of the true number of fatalities.

Russia

Russia registered 4,941 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its national caseload to 985,346, the country's COVID-19 response center said in a statement Saturday.

Meanwhile, 111 new deaths were reported, taking the death toll to 17,025.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, reported 677 new cases, bringing its tally of infections to 261,038, the response center said.

Spain

The number of COVID-19 cases in Spain rose by 9,779 in the past 24 hours to 439,286, according to the latest figures published on Friday by the Spanish Ministry of Health.

According to the statistics, Spain has registered 43,747 cases in the past seven days, which is the worst weekly figure since the end of March.

Los Angeles Unified School District students stand in a hallway socially distance during a lunch break at Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood in Los Angeles, Aug 26, 2020. (JAE C. HONG / AP)

US

Researchers for the first time have identified someone in the United States who was reinfected with the novel coronavirus, according to a study that has not yet been reviewed by outside experts.

The report, published online, describes a 25-year-old man living in Reno, Nevada, who tested positive for the virus in April after showing mild illness. He got sick again in late May and developed more severe COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

Meanwhile, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday a White House proposal to spend US$1.3 trillion in new coronavirus economic relief would not be enough to meet the needs of American workers and families.

Pelosi said in a statement she hoped Republicans would come to the negotiating table and accept the Democratic offer of US$2.2 trillion in spending.

READ MORE: US university, college towns face dual threat

UK

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the country could face “very extensive” local lockdowns in the event of a second wave of coronavirus this winter.

Hancock told the Times he’s working under the “central scenario” that a vaccine will likely be available “some time next year.” Until then, he said the government will have to rely on three “lines of defense” to stop the spread of the coronavirus: social distancing, testing and tracing and local lockdowns.

Britain’s health ministry said on Friday coronavirus-related restrictions on two households mixing would be lifted in parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire from Sept 2.

A tight lockdown would remain in place in Leicester for a further two weeks as cases remain high, the ministry said in a statement.

Around four million people were ordered on July 30 not to mix with other households in Greater Manchester, the biggest city in northern England, parts of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, though they could still go to the pub and to work.

Meanwhile, almost 70 percent of head teachers do not have confidence in the UK government’s test, trace and isolate system ahead of the return of millions of school children next week, a new survey of over 4,000 school leaders has shown.

England’s nearly 25,000 schools are set to return full time next week after many saw only a fraction of pupils return for the end of the last academic year.

They face challenges trying to manage the challenges of the coronavirus in busy buildings and what will happen if there is an outbreak in a school, as some other countries have seen.