Jordanian authorities Monday started to take home about 5,000 people quarantined in hotels to guard against the spread of coronavirus since their return to the country two weeks ago.

Moscow, with its more than 12 million people, went into lockdown on Monday while other parts of Russia moved to introduce similar steps to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

More than 700,000 cases of the novel coronavirus have been officially declared around the world since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP tally at 0800 GMT Monday based on official sources.

Shopkeepers in the city at the center of the virus outbreak in China were reopening Monday but customers were scarce after authorities lifted more of the anti-virus controls that kept tens of millions of people at home for two months.

"I'm so excited, I want to cry," said a woman on the Chuhe Hanjie pedestrian mall who would give only the English name Kat. She said she was a teacher in the eastern city of Nanjing visiting her family in Wuhan when the government locked down the city in late January to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center set up by the ruling Hamas group.

But her initial jitters turned to fear when two fellow travelers in another facility tested positive for the coronavirus — the first cases to be confirmed in Gaza.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that he would remain in self-imposed isolation even though his wife, who had contracted the coronavirus, has recovered. 

Ivory Coast's health minister announced the country's first confirmed coronavirus during a daily briefing Sunday on the outbreak there.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's government prepared Italians for a "very long" lockdown Sunday that would only be lifted gradually despite its economic hardship and traumatic impact on daily lives.

A limited emergency-use authorization for two antimalarial drugs touted as game-changers by President Donald Trump has been issued by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus patients.

President Donald Trump has extended emergency coronavirus restrictions for the United States where his top scientist warned up to 200,000 people could die, as Africa's biggest city readied to go into lockdown on Monday.