The coronavirus pandemic is back under control in the UK, a minister says, while infections in India continue to dip and case rates are flattening across much of Europe.
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Britain has got COVID-19 back under control, health minister Matt Hancock said as England prepares to exit a lockdown this week and enter a tiered system of restrictions subject to a parliamentary vote.
"We've got this virus back under control," Hancock said at a news conference on Monday.
He said COVID-19 cases in England have dropped by 30 per cent in the last week.
India recorded 38,772 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving its overall total to 9.43 million.
The health ministry on Monday also reported 443 deaths in the same period, raising the death toll to 137,139.
India continues to have one of the lowest deaths per million population globally, the health ministry said.
For more than three weeks now, India's single-day cases have remained below the 50,000 mark.
The capital, New Delhi, has also registered a dip in daily infections.
It reported fewer than 5000 new cases for the second consecutive day.
On Sunday, it recorded 68 deaths, driving the capital's total to 9066.
India is second behind the US in total coronavirus cases.
In an effort to slow the virus' spread, the home ministry has allowed states to impose local restrictions such as night curfews but has asked them to consult before imposing lockdowns at state, district or city levels.
Meanwhile, the head of Europe's disease control centre said on Monday the continent's latest surge of infections is flattening or going down in some but not all countries but added it is too early to relax current restrictions.
Andrea Ammon said it was alarming that the death rate caused by COVID-19 is still rising across Europe - it was 95 per 1 million people last week compared to 84 the week before.
Ammon also noted that occupancy of intensive care units was at 91 per cent last week, meaning that "some countries are probably already at the limit".
She spoke at at a virtual gathering of lawmakers responsible for European affairs in all the EU member states and at the European parliament.
More than 62.69 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 1,460,921 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Australian Associated Press
