LONDON — New Zealand confirmed on Monday it was investigating one positive case of COVID-19 in the community that was first reported on Sunday, the first domestic case in months, while as many as 99.9 million (99,920,055) people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 2,142,132 have died, according to a worldodometer tally. It reported that there have been 71,882,748 cases of global recoveries. The infection in a 56-year-old woman who returned to New Zealand on Dec. 30 was of the South African variant, the COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said during a news conference, according to Reuters. There were no other community cases reported and authorities said the source of the infection was probably a fellow returnee at a quarantine facility. Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world with over 99 million confirmed cases in 218 countries and more than 2.14 million deaths. The virus is surging in many regions and countries that had apparent success in suppressing initial outbreaks are also seeing infections rise again. The US recorded Sunday 130,485 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours as the confirmed cases nation-wide crossed 25 million. It also recorded 1,769 virus-related deaths according to Johns Hopkins University. The tally showed that the confirmed cases nationwide reached 25,124,954 and at least 419,209 deaths across US, with the country remaining the world’s worst hit by the pandemic. Furthermore there were a record 110,628 people currently hospitalized for coronavirus in the US, according to COVID Tracking Project. The US ranks first globally in the number of coronavirus cases and deaths. India and Brazil have the second and third highest case tallies, recording some 10.6 and 8.7 million cases respectively. Infections have been reported in more than 218 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. Daily cases have now fallen in many European countries after steep rises in October. Lockdowns and other restrictions were reintroduced in some of the worst-affected regions to help bring numbers down. In Moscow, Russia reported 19,290 new coronavirus cases on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 3,738,690 after it crossed the 3.7 million mark. Russia"s coronavirus crisis center said 456 coronavirus patients had died in the last 24 hours and the overall national coronavirus death toll was at 69,918. They added 19,003 people recovered from the virus, raising the total number of recoveries to 3,150,763. The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have spread to Russia on Jan. 31, 2020 when two Chinese citizens in Tyumen (Siberia) and Chita (Russia Far east) tested positive for the virus. In Berlin, German health authorities reported on Monday 217 deaths and 6,729 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said the country’s death toll increased to 52,087 cases and the total confirmed cases those to 2,141,665. Germany responded to the second wave of the deadly pandemic by shutting hospitality businesses as well as leisure and sports facilities. Schools and non-essential shops have, however, remained open. In Paris, the French Health Ministry reported 18,436 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours on Sunday. France"s cumulative total of cases now stands at 3,036,617. The COVID-19 death toll was up by 172 at 73,049. France announced its approval of the use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and to include it in its vaccine program. In Rome, Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak hit 85,461 on Sunday after 299 more people succumbed to the disease over the past 24 hours, Health Ministry data showed. Some 11,629 new cases were logged in the same period to raise the total in one of the world’s worst-affected countries to over 2,467,000, according to government figures. It noted 19,885 people recovered from the virus in the past day, taking the tally to more than 1,882,000 recoveries since the outbreak of the pandemic. In Brussels, total infections of coronavirus cases in Belgium on Monday increased to 693,666 with 1,812 new infections reported by Belgian health authorities. They reported 53 more deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours raising the total death toll to 20,779. In Amsterdam, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Monday reported that 4,129 new coronavirus cases were reported in the Netherlands raising the total number of infections to 953,383. Also around 40 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours raising the total deaths from COVID-19 to 13,588, said the institute. In Beijing, China reported 124 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the country"s national health authority said on Monday. The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in China is 89,115, while the death toll remains unchanged at 4,635, Reuters reported. In New Delhi, India said on Monday that 131 people died due to COVID-19 while 13,203 new cases of the coronavirus were registered in the past 24 hours. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that fatalities due to COVID-19 rose to 153,470 as the total number of positive cases mounted to 10,667,736. According to the ministry, 10,330,084 people recuperated from the pandemic as it spread to 35 states. India has the world"s second-highest caseload, but daily infections have dipped steadily since hitting a peak in September. In Tokyo, Japan reported on Monday 1,232 daily cases of novel coronavirus, raising the nation’s total number 366,955, the Health Ministry and local authorities said. The country’s cumulative death toll stood at 5,1433. Tokyo added 618 new infections, which brought the total cases in the Japanese capital to 94,508. In an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus variants, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures. It had suspended new entries of non-resident foreign nationals from around the world to Japan through Jan. 31. In Seoul, South Korea reported 437 new coronavirus cases Monday, Yonhap reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total caseload at 75,521, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Eleven people died in the past 24 hours raising the death toll to 1,360. Of the newly identified local infections, 91 cases were reported in Seoul and 72 cases in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. The government extended the current level 2.5 distancing measures in the capital area and Level 2 restrictions in the rest of the country until Jan. 17. South Korea is grappling to contain yet another wave of virus infections with the toughest social distancing rules banning gatherings of five or more people. Indonesian Health Ministry reported on Monday 9,994 new COVID-19 cases emerged in the country and 297 deaths, over past hours. The total confirmed cases reached 999,256 and deaths to 28,132, the department said in a statement, adding recoveries increased to 809,488. In Malaysia, the Health Ministry announced 3,048 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, while the total number of cases rose to 186,849, death toll to 689. Meanwhile, the count of recoveries climbed to 14,508. Elsewhere in Asia, the Philippine health authorities announced 1,581 new COVID-19 cases and 50 deaths. Moreover, the total number of infections rose to 514,996, deaths to 10,292 and recoveries to 475,422 cases. In Latin America, Brazil has more than eight million confirmed cases and the world"s second highest death toll. The country is currently seeing a second surge in infections. Brazil ranks third in terms of infection numbers globally, behind the United States and India. On fatalities, Brazil ranks second behind the US. Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have also recorded more than one million cases and all three countries are still seeing very high numbers of daily confirmed cases. Peru is also approaching the milestone of one million cases, although daily cases are falling. The country has one of the highest deaths rates in the world. Africa has recorded more than three million cases, but the true extent of the pandemic there is not known as testing rates are low. Concern is growing about a South African variant of the disease, which is thought to share some similarities with the new UK strain, including being more easily transmissible. South Africa, with more than 1.2 million cases and more than 30,000 deaths, is the worst affected country on the continent. Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Nigeria are the other African countries to officially record more than 100,000 cases. Kenya is the only other country with close to 100,000 cases. In Rabat, Morocco on Sunday said confirmed coronavirus cases had risen by 520 over the past 24 hours, while 22 more people succumbed to the disease to up the country’s death toll to 8,150. The North African nation’s caseload has reached 466,289 since the contagion came to light, according to the Health Ministry’s data, 748 infected people have recovered which showed the tally of people who have recovered from the virus till date as 442,441. In Tunis, Tunisia’s Ministry of Health on Sunday announced 80 deaths from the novel coronavirus and 2,059 more infections in 24 hours. The tally of confirmed deaths and infections rose to 6,234 and 197,373 respectively since the outbreak of the virus. Meanwhile, overall recoveries went up to 144,567. In Khartoum, Sudan registered on Sunday 402 new positive cases of coronavirus and 16 new death cases in the past 24 hours. According to the Sudanese Health Ministry, the total number of positive cases increased to 26,026, fatalities to 1,738 deaths, while the total number of recoveries reached 19,884. Meanwhile, Mauritania’s Ministry of Health said Sunday that 40 persons tested positive for the novel coronavirus, bringing the country’s caseload to 16,397. Fatalities in the last 24 hours pushed the death toll from the viral illness to 416. The report said, 94 patients have been discharged from hospitals, raising the overall recoveries to 14,729 cases. — Agencies