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China reported its highest highest daily rise in new coronavirus cases for two months on Sunday, as parts of the country’s capital Beijing remained under lockdown following an outbreak at a wholesale market.

Health officials in the country reported 57 new cases, less than 24 hours after after one district put itself on a “wartime” footing on Saturday, following a cluster of around 50 infections at the the Xinfadi market.

It marked the Chinese capital’s first locally transmitted cases in nearly two months and raised mainland’s China’s total number to 83,132. Almost 4,700 people have died in the country where the pandemic originated in December.

Image: (Mark Schiefelbein / AP)

Infections in South Korea are also on the rise after a lockdown easing due to a highly-praised testing and tracing campaign. Health officials in the country reported 34 more cases on Sunday, adding to a recent upward trend in infections. The country has so far reported 12,085 cases.

Officials said 30 were in the greater Seoul area, where half of the country’s 51 million people live. The new cases have been linked to nightclub-goers, church services, an e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door sellers.

As a result, the government has started to re-tighten preventative measures, pleading with the public to wear masks, and avoid attending public meetings.

Elsewhere the pandemic continues to rage in South America and India.

With almost 43,000 deaths, Brazil is second only to the U.S., according to John Hopkins University (JHU) data.

Image: A quarantine worker sprays disinfectants at night spots of Itaewon neighborhood, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Seoul (Yonhap / Reuters)

In nearby Chile, health minister Jaime Manalich resigned on Saturday amid controversy over the country’s death toll, which has topped 3,100, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

India also reported its biggest single-day jump in virus cases on Saturday, with new 11,458 infections and taking its total count to more than 300,000, according to data from its health ministry.

As the total global cases approach 7.8 million on Sunday, some European Union nations plan to re-open their internal borders on Monday after the bloc’s executive arm urged a relaxation of restrictions.

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Non-essential businesses are set to re-open in the U.K. on Monday, provided they are able to meet COVID-19 guidelines. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is anxious to restart an economy which has been all but shut down since Britain entered a lockdown in March.

Elsewhere, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark and Spain all began relaxing their rules, expanding their limits on public gatherings, while restaurants and bars re-opened.

States across the U.S. have also been gradually re-opening, but after a spike in cases Utah and Oregon, those states suspended reopening their economies further. Badly-hit New York City emerged from its lockdown last week, with thousands of people returning to work.

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