Australia records 41 more COVID-19 deaths

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Australia on Monday reported 41 new deaths due to COVID-19, pushing the tally to 652, authorities said.

All the new deaths were reported in Victoria, the second most populous state, which is under a six-week lockdown until Sept. 13.

The total includes 22 people who died in the weeks leading up to Aug. 27 in aged care homes but were reported on Sunday, the Department of Health said in a statement.

The state's caseload climbed to 19,080 with 73 new infections.

Victoria’s leader Daniel Andrews said that a "detailed roadmap" on the state's plan to exit lockdown restrictions will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, Canberra said it will provide additional funds to extend support for the aged care sector’s response to COVID-19.

In total, the country has confirmed 25,746 cases, including 21,114 recoveries.

Since last December, the pandemic has claimed nearly 847,000 lives in 188 countries and regions, according to US' Johns Hopkins University.

More than 25.22 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, with recoveries exceeding 16.61 million.

The US, Brazil and India, are currently the most infected.

On Sunday, India reported 78,761 new cases in 24 hours, the world's highest single-day increase. A further 78,512 people contracted the virus in the last 24 hours, while 971 died.