A street cleaner hoses down a sidewalk in Malaga, Spain, on Saturday, August 29, 2020. (Samuel Aranda/The New York Times)

Coronavirus Global Updates: More than 25.88 million people were reported to have been infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 857,881​ have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

Globally, at least 861,512 people have succumbed to the virus infections, with the highest death toll reported by US, followed by Brazil and India. A total of 17,209,534 recoveries have been registered worldwide.

Here are the top developments globally:

Catholic Priest Omar, center, leads a prayer as soldiers pause from disinfecting the Christ the Redeemer area, currently closed during the new coronavirus pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

Signs of Covid easing in Brazil

Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll appears to be easing for the first time since May, data shows, a sign the Latin American country could be descending from a long infection plateau that has seen it suffer the world’s second-worst outbreak after the United States. With nearly 4 million confirmed cases, the virus has killed over 120,000 people in Brazil.

But the level of average daily deaths dropped below 900 per day last week – the lowest in three and a half months and below the rate of both the United States and India, according to a Reuters tally. Researchers at Imperial College London also calculate that the transmission rate in Brazil, at which each person infected with the coronavirus infects another person, is now below 1, the level required for new infections to slow.

Pope Francis leaves after the first weekly general audience to readmit the public since the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in the San Damaso courtyard at the Vatican, September 2, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Australia’s hotspot reports triple-digit cases for first time in 4 days

Australia’s Victoria state on Thursday reported a triple-digit rise in new COVID-19 infections for the first time in four days, denting optimism that the second wave of cases has been contained. Victoria state said 113 new cases were detected in the past 24 hours, up on the 90 infections reported on Wednesday.

A child gets hand gel from her mother, wearing a face mask to fight against the spread of the coronavirus, before entering the Heembeek primary school during the first school day of the new season in Brussels, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Australia has now recorded more than 26,000 COVID-19 cases, while the death toll rose to 678 after 15 people in Victoria state died from the virus. Victoria’s capital Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, is in its fifth week of a six-week lockdown.

US: Budget deficit to hit record USD 3.3 trillion due to virus, recession

The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record USD 3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than USD 2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The spike in the deficit means that federal debt will exceed annual gross domestic product next year, a milestone that would put the US where it was in the aftermath of World War II, when accumulated debt exceeded the size of the economy. The USD 3.3 trillion figure is more than triple the 2019 shortfall and more than double the levels experienced after the market meltdown and Great Recession of 2008-09.

Medical professionals collect samples from a man at a makeshift Covid-19 testing site at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong Tuesday, Sept.1, 2020. (Anthony Kwan /Pool Photo via AP)

Britain to fund expansion of rapid test trials

Britain is putting 500 million pounds ($666 million) into trials of rapid COVID-19 tests and into population-testing for the disease, the health ministry said on Thursday. Health minister Matt Hancock has said he hopes mass testing using faster COVID-19 tests can be rolled out towards the end of the year, adding that they are key to restoring freedoms after months of COVID-19 restrictions.

The funding will be used to expand existing trials of saliva tests and a rapid 20-minute test in southern England, while a new, community trial in Salford, northwest England, will assess the benefit of population-testing, under which people are regularly tested regardless of whether they have symptoms, so that any cases can be picked up before they have spread widely. “Innovative new tests that are fast, accurate and easier to use will maximise the impact and scale of testing, helping us to get back to a more normal way of life,” Hancock said.

A police officer instructs people to put on their masks outside a bar in Malaga, Spain, on Sunday, Aug. 31, 2020. (Samuel Aranda/The New York Times)

Mexico leads in health worker deaths from Covid, says report

Mexico leads the world in coronavirus deaths among its health care workers, Amnesty International said in a new report Wednesday. It said Mexico has reported 1,320 confirmed deaths from COVIID-19 so far, surpassing the United States at 1,077, the United Kingdom at 649, and Brazil at 634.

The report is likely to revive debate about Mexico’s extremely low coronavirus testing rate, with fewer than one in 100 Mexicans tested. While Mexican officials have bragged that all health care workers have gotten one test, that appears insufficient for people who face daily exposure over months.

Residents wearing mask to protect from the coronavirus react as they watch a water fountain at a retail street in Beijing, China on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Actor Dwayne Johnson says he and family have recovered

Hollywood actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said in a video message posted on social media on Wednesday that he, his wife and their two young children tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks but that they all have recovered and are healthy. Johnson, 48, said in the Instagram post that he and his spouse, Lauren, 35, and their daughters, Jasmine, 4, and Tiana, 2, caught the virus about 2-1/2 weeks ago from “very close family friends” whom he said had no idea how they had become infected.

“I can tell you this has been one of the most challenging and difficult things we have ever had to endure as a family, and for me personally,” he said in the video.