Coronavirus Whats happening in Canada and around the world on Monday

The latest:

Iran recorded a new high number of deaths from COVID-19 for a second day in a row. The official IRNA news agency said Monday that 655 patients died in the previous 24 hours, and health workers found some 41,194 new cases over the same period. On Sunday, Iran reported 620 deaths.

The report came as the country imposed a five-day lockdown starting Monday. It includes a travel ban on personal cars crossing between provinces.

The new surge has been fuelled by the contagious delta variant. Iranian authorities say less than 40 per cent of the population follows measures such as wearing face masks and physical distancing. Iranian health officials have regularly warned that hospitals in the capital, Tehran, and other major cities are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

This is the fifth wave of coronavirus infections as the country struggles to vaccinate its people. Some 4 per cent of Iranians have been fully vaccinated.

-From The Associated Press, last updated at 7 a.m. ET

What's happening in Canada WATCH | Canadians react to fall election during COVID-19 pandemic: Canadians react to fall election during COVID-19 pandemic10 hours agoCanadian voters had mixed reactions to news that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's request to trigger an election was approved â€" particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 2:12 What's happening around the world People wait in line outside a COVID-19 vaccination centre at Sydney Olympic Park during a lockdown to curb the spread of an outbreak in the Australian city on Monday. (Loren Elliott/Reuters)

As of early Monday morning, more than 207.2 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to a tracking tool maintained by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll stood at more than 4.3 million.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Australia's most populous state on Monday reported its worst day of the pandemic with 478 new COVID-19 infections and seven deaths.The previous record daily tally in New South Wales was 466 new cases reported on Saturday. Two of the dead had taken a single dose of a two-shot vaccine. The rest were unvaccinated, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

Only 26 per cent of Australians aged 16 and older had been fully vaccinated by Saturday. Australia has one of the slowest vaccine rollouts among wealthy countries, which is making the delta variant outbreak particularly dangerous.

In Europe, daily coronavirus deaths in Russia exceeded 800 for the fourth straight day on Sunday, with the authorities reporting 816 new fatalities. The daily tally surpassed 800 for the first time in the pandemic on Thursday and has remained at that level since.

Germany's standing committee on vaccination, the Stiko, has given the go-ahead for all young people above the age of 12 to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. The country's disease control agency said Monday the Stiko found that data from the United States, where almost 10 million adolescents have been vaccinated, shows that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh the risks for children and teenagers.

In Africa, health officials in South Africa on Sunday reported 10,139 new cases of COVID-19 and 272 new deaths.

In the Americas, as the delta variant of the virus sweeps through Mexico's cities, more adults in their 30s and 40s are ending up in the hospital, with polls showing vaccine hesitancy is rising in younger age groups.

In the Middle East, Israel's economy grew an annualized 15.4 per cent in the second quarter from the prior three months, bouncing back from a weak first quarter with big gains in exports, consumer spending and investments after the country emerged from a third lockdown.

-From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 7:15 a.m. ET

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