EUROPE

* Around 1,500 volunteers equipped with face masks, hand disinfectant and tracking gadgets have attended an indoor concert in Germany as part of a study to simulate how coronavirus spreads in large gatherings.

* Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is urging people to act on health advice after official data showing daily COVID-19 infections rising to a record level.

* The head of Israel's coronavirus task force has asked Zelenskiy to ban an annual pilgrimage in which Hasidic Jews visit the central Ukrainian town of Uman.

AMERICAS

* The United States has closed lanes at select ports of entry at the border with Mexico and will conduct more secondary checks to limit non-essential travel.

* New York City has managed to contain the virus as it reopens but risks an increase in cases later in the year, public health experts say.

* The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico is "under-represented" and "under-recognised" and testing is limited, the World Health Organization says.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* South Korea will roll out tougher social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus nationwide as it battles a new outbreak spreading from the capital.

* A Japanese group is trying an unconventional way to take people's minds off COVID-19 by putting them in coffins surrounded by chainsaw-wielding zombies.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Saudi public sector employees will reportedly return to on-site work on August 30, further relaxing coronavirus restrictions.

* South Africa's confirmed COVID-19 cases have surpassed 600,000, although the number of new cases has been declining since a peak in July.

* Lebanon has imposed a partial lockdown for two weeks to counter infections that have doubled since the catastrophic explosion at the Beirut port.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* China has been giving experimental coronavirus vaccines to groups facing high infection risks since July, a health official has told state media.

* China has approved human testing for a potential coronavirus vaccine cultivated within insect cells, local government in the southwestern city of Chengdu says.

* The US Food and Drug Administration could update its emergency use authorisation for Gilead Sciences Inc's drug remdesivir to include patients hospitalized with moderate COVID-19 despite mixed trial results.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* More than half the companies in Spain that closed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic have reopened, according to government data, suggesting the economy is recovering slowly.

Australian Associated Press