Bangladeshi soldiers are enforcing a seven-day lockdown. As the West opens up, poorer countries with low vaccination rates are being hit by wave after wave of COVID-19.

China's is likely the only major economy to have expanded in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic gripped the world.

Hebei province, with a population of 11 million people, has reported more than 600 new coronavirus cases, since early January.

South Korean lawmakers say intelligence officials briefed them on the North's tough pandemic rules, including a Pyongyang lockdown and an execution of an official caught breaking restrictions.

Previous spikes in South Korea were linked to outbreaks at churches and protests. Health officials say the current wave appears to have no links to any major groups or events.

Churches resume in-person services and stadiums welcome sports fans as the country once again manages to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and his Chinese counterpart lectured one another in a 90-minute call as the highest level U.S. delegation in four decades plans a provocative visit to Taiwan.

The archipelago nation has been hit by the virus far more than any other country in Southeast Asia. Epidemiologists says it is due to government failures.