World passes another milestone in COVID-19: Over 40mn infected

The total number of novel coronavirus cases worldwide has now passed the 40 million milestone, prompting a number of countries to take decisive action to curtail the pandemic.

On Monday, according to an AFP tally at 0715 GMT based on official sources, the total number of coronavirus infections had reached 40,000,234.

Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll from COVID-19, the name given to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, reached 1,113,896.

Three countries across the globe, at this time, have been hit hardest; namely, the United States with 8,154,935 infections, India with 7,550,273, and Brazil with 5,235,344.

However, experts believe the number of infections to be much higher and that the confirmed cases likely do not include a large number of less severe or asymptomatic cases of infection that go unreported.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has urged governments to assume "responsible leadership" against COVID-19 disease.

Several European countries have announced plans to impose tight restrictions to contain the spread of the pandemic. 

Ireland decided to impose nationwide restrictions to curb the spread of disease.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said the new restrictions were to be imposed on Monday.

"The government will act tomorrow, the action will bedecisive and it will be nationwide action," Harris, who was the health minister during one of Europe's strictest lockdowns from the end of March to mid-May, told national broadcaster RTE on Sunday.

"Tomorrow we will have to bring in more restrictions. Level 3  [Level 5 is the highest level of COVID-19 curbs] has not worked ... I don't want to be pedantic about the phrase lockdown but I don't think that's exactly where we're going but there will certainly be more restrictions."

Elsewhere, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned that the situation had become critical. In a fresh effort to try to halt a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, Italian mayors were given the power to shut public squares to curb the pandemic.

Conte delegated the power to the municipalities to shut public squares from 9 pm (local time) to stop gatherings.  "The government is there but everyone must do their part," he told a news conference on Sunday as he unveiled the new restrictions.