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World hits coronavirus milestones amid fears worse to come

ROME (AP) - The world surpassed two sobering coronavirus milestones Sunday -- 500,000 confirmed deaths, 10 million confirmed cases -- and hit another high mark for daily new infections as governments that attempted reopenings continued to backtrack and warn that worse news could be yet to come.

'œCOVID-19 has taken a very swift and very dangerous turn in Texas over just the past few weeks,'ť said Gov. Greg Abbott, who allowed businesses to start reopening in early May but on Friday shut down bars and limited restaurant dining amid a spike in cases.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled back reopenings of bars in seven counties, including Los Angeles. He ordered them to close immediately and urged eight other counties to issue local health orders mandating the same.

More Florida beaches will be closing again to avoid further spread of the new coronavirus as officials try to tamp down on large gatherings amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said interactions among young people are driving the surge.

'œCaution was thrown to the wind and so we are where we are," DeSantis said.

South Africa's health minister warned that the country's current surge of cases is expected to rapidly increase in the coming weeks and push hospitals to the limit. Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize said the current rise in infections has come from people who 'œmoved back into the workplace.

New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus was still circulating widely in Europe, though not with the rapidly growing infection rate seen in parts of the U.S., Latin America and India.

Poland and France, meanwhile, attempted a step toward normalcy as they held elections that had been delayed by the virus.

Wearing mandatory masks, social distancing in lines and carrying their own pens to sign voting registers, French voters cast ballots in a second round of municipal elections. Poles also wore masks and used hand sanitizer, and some in virus-hit areas were told to mail in their ballots.

'œI didn't go and vote the first time around because I am elderly and I got scared,'ť said Fanny Barouh as she voted in a Paris school.

In Texas, Abbott appeared with Vice President Mike Pence, who cut campaign events from upcoming visits to Florida and Arizona because of rising virus cases in those states.

Pence praised Abbott for both his decision to reopen the state, and to roll back the reopening plans.

'œYou flattened the curve here in Texas ... but about two weeks ago something changed,'ť Pence said.

Pence urged people to wear masks when unable to practice social distancing. He and Abbott wore face masks as they entered and left the room, taking them off while speaking to reporters.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, meanwhile, defended the fact that President Donald Trump has rarely worn a mask in public, saying he doesn't have to follow his own administration's guidance because as a leader of the free world he's tested regularly and is in 'œvery different circumstances than the rest of us.'ť

Addressing spikes in reported coronavirus cases in some states, Azar said on NBC's 'œMeet the Press'ť that people 'œhave to take ownership'ť of their own behaviors by social distancing and wearing masks if possible.

A reported tally Sunday from Johns Hopkins University researchers said the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic had topped 500,00.

About 1 in 4 of those deaths '“ more than 125,000 '“ have been reported in the U.S. The country with the next highest death toll is Brazil, with more than 57,000, or about 1 in 9.

The true death toll from the virus, which first emerged in China late last year, is widely believed to be significantly higher. Experts say that especially early on, many victims died of COVID-19 without being tested for it.

To date, more than 10 million confirmed cases have been reported globally. About a quarter of them have been reported in the U.S.

The World Health Organization announced another daily record in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases across the world - topping over 189,000 in a single 24-hour period. The tally eclipses the previous record a week earlier at over 183,000 cases, showing case counts continue to progress worldwide.

Overall the U.S. still has far and away the most total cases. At more than 2,450,000 - roughly twice that of Brazil. The number of actual cases worldwide is much higher.

New York, once the nation's pandemic epicenter, is now 'œon the exact opposite end,'ť Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in an interview with 'œMeet the Press.'ť

The state reported five new virus deaths Saturday, its lowest reported daily death toll since March 15. During the state's peak pandemic in April, nearly 800 people were dying every day. New York still leads the nation in COVID-19 deaths with nearly 25,000.

In the state of Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee put a hold on plans to move counties to the fourth phase of his reopening plan as cases continue to increase. But in Hawaii, the city of Honolulu announced that campgrounds will reopen for the first time in three months with limited permits to ensure social distancing.

Britain's government, meanwhile, is considering whether a local lockdown is needed for the central English city of Leicester amid reports about a spike in COVID-19 among its Asian community. It would be Britain's first local lockdown.

'œWe have seen flare-ups across the country in recent weeks,'ť Home Secretary Priti Patel told the BBC on Sunday.

Polish voters were casting ballots, in person and by mail, for a presidential election that was supposed to have taken place in May but was chaotically postponed amid the pandemic. President Andrzej Duda, a 48-year-old conservative, is running against 10 other candidates as he seeks a second five-year term.

Iwona Goge, 79, was encouraged to see so many people voting in Warsaw.

'œIt's bad. Poland is terribly divided and people are getting discouraged,'ť she said.

French voters were choosing mayors and municipal councilors in Paris and 5,000 towns and cities in a second round of municipal elections held under strict hygiene rules.

Italy was honoring its dead later Sunday with an evening Requiem concert in hard-hit Bergamo province. The ceremony in the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak came a day after Italy registered the lowest daily tally of COVID-19 deaths in nearly four months: eight.

European leaders were taking no chances in tamping down new clusters. German authorities renewed a lockdown in a western region of about 500,000 people after about 1,300 slaughterhouse workers tested positive.

Africa's confirmed cases of COVID-19 continued to climb to a new high of more than 371,000, including 9,484 deaths, according to figures released Sunday by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

China on Monday reported a further decline in new confirmed cases, with a total of just 12, including seven cases of domestic transmission in Beijing, where nearly 8.3 million people have now undergone testing in recent weeks. No new deaths were reported Monday, leaving the total at 4,634 among 83,512 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

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Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news conference with the Coronavirus task force at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Friday, June 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) The Associated Press
A health worker checks the body temperature of a resident, as others await their turn during a free medical checkup in a slum in Mumbai, India, Sunday, June 28, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) The Associated Press
An employee takes the fingerprints of a woman who died from the new coronavirus before her remains are cremated at La Recoleta crematorium in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, June 27, 2020. The Ministry of Health reported on Saturday the highest number of deaths in Chile since the start of the pandemic. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) The Associated Press
A woman covers her face as she walks past health workers arriving to administer a free medical checkup in a slum in Mumbai, India, Sunday, June 28, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) The Associated Press
A visitor wears a space suit costume on the pier Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) The Associated Press
Demonstrators hold signs as they protest the lockdown and wearing masks Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) The Associated Press
A lifeguard keeps watch over a packed beach Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) The Associated Press
Visitors crowd the beach Saturday, June 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) The Associated Press
Health workers arrive to administer a medical camp in a slum in Mumbai, India, Sunday, June 28, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) The Associated Press
A worker wearing a protective suit swabs a man's throat for a coronavirus test at a community health clinic in Beijing, Sunday, June 28, 2020. China reported more than a dozen of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, all but a few of them from domestic transmission in Beijing, which has seen a recent spike in coronavirus infections. But authorities in the Chinese capital say a campaign to conduct tests on employees at hair and beauty salons across the city has found no positive cases so far, in a further sign that the recent outbreak has been largely brought under control. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) The Associated Press
Health workers arrive to administer a free medical checkup in a slum in Mumbai, India, Sunday, June 28, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) The Associated Press
A health worker checks the temperature of a woman during a free medical checkup in a slum in Mumbai, India, Sunday, June 28, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) The Associated Press
Current socialist Paris mayor and candidate in the second round of the municipal elections Anne Hidalgo casts her ballot Sunday, June 28, 2020 in Paris. France is holding the second round of municipal elections in 5,000 towns and cities Sunday that got postponed due to the country's coronavirus outbreak. (Joel Saget, Pool via AP) The Associated Press
FILE - In this June 26, 2020, file photo Vice President Mike Pence, second from right, walks off of the stage following the conclusion of a briefing with the Coronavirus Task Force at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington. Dr. Deborah Birx, left, Dr. Anthony Fauci, second from left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, right, follow Pence. On Friday, Pence said Americans should look to their state and local leadership for modeling their behavior. The comments only days after President Donald Trump held two campaign events that drew hundreds of participants but few wearing masks. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) The Associated Press
FILE - In this March 26, 2020, file photo, an indoors sitting bar is closed inside the Gelson's Market in Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday, June 28, 2020, ordered bars that have opened in seven California counties to immediately close and urged bars in eight other counties to do the same, saying the coronavirus was rapidly spreading in some parts of the state. The counties under the mandatory bar closure order are: Los Angeles, Fresno, San Joaquin, Kings, Kern, Imperial and Tulare. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) The Associated Press
Workers collect the coffins of people that have been recently cremated amid the new coronavirus pandemic, at the La Recoleta cemetery in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, June 28, 2020. The coffins are collected, destroyed, and processed by a company specialized in organic waste. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) The Associated Press
Workers collect and stack the coffins of people that have been recently cremated amid the new coronavirus pandemic, at the La Recoleta cemetery in Santiago, Chile, Sunday, June 28, 2020. The coffins are collected, destroyed, and processed by a company specialized in organic waste. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) The Associated Press
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