ROME — Italy recorded a new daily high of 34,505 confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday.

The health ministry also reported 428 deaths, the highest since May. Italy announced on Wednesday four “red zone” regional lockdowns for two weeks to curb the coronavirus resurgence.

The aim is to lessen pressure on hospitals and provide more effective contact tracing.

Italy, the former European epicenter for the coronavirus, has watched infections soar beyond 20,000 cases and 300 deaths a day for several weeks.

Dr. Giovanni Rezza, of Italy’s Superior Institute of Health, called it “not a good sign.”

Italy has more than 790,000 confirmed cases and more than 39,000 deaths, the sixth highest worldwide.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— United Nations to hold summit on COVID-19 on Dec. 3-4

— Britain extends salary support for unemployed because of virus restrictions

— Germany hits record of nearly 20,000 daily coronavirus cases

— Joe Biden on the brink of winning the presidency, needs to clinch one more state to defeat President Donald Trump.

— Sweden Prime Minister Stefan Lofven self-isolating even after a person close to him tested negative for coronavirus amid surge of coronavirus cases.

— Greece announces 3-week, nationwide lockdown in the hopes of stemming the increase in hospitalized patients from coronavirus.

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Follow AP’s coronavirus pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/virus-outbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama is extending a public health order requiring face masks in public but lifting occupancy limits despite worsening hospitalizations and deaths.

Gov. Kay Ivey and health officials announced the new order, which runs through Dec. 11.

Occupancy limits are ending for retailers headed into the holiday shopping season, along with entertainment spots and fitness centers. Businesses including restaurants, hair salons and barber shops won’t have to follow the 6-foot social distancing requirement if people wear masks and are separated by a barrier or partition.

The 1,848 new cases reported Wednesday was the highest since early August. More than 1,020 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase of 45% since late September.

Alabama’s total cases surpassed 200,000 and the death toll topped 3,000 this week.

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PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s governor issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings in public setting regardless of their ability to maintain physical distance from others.

Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, beefed up an earlier executive order that required mask use when it’s difficult to maintain social distance.

Owners and operators of public places must post signs notifying entrants they can be denied entry for non-compliance to the mask rule, the order stated.

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MADRID -- Spain reported nearly 22,000 new coronavirus infections and 368 deaths on Thursday.

The Health Ministry says coronavirus patients occupy 16% of hospital beds, including 29% of ICU beds. Spain has a 14-day average of 527 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, one of the highest in Europe.

The ministry reports a total of nearly 1.3 million confirmed cases and almost 38,500 deaths.

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GENEVA — Switzerland surpassed 10,000 new coronavirus cases in the last day, putting the total to more than 200,000 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Swiss health system officials have expressed concerns about hospitals filling up, saying the impact of higher case counts generally takes about 10 days to translate into higher hospitalizations.

The Federal Office of Public Health announced 62 more deaths, bringing the confirmed total to 2,337.

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UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations has voted to hold a summit on the COVID-19 pandemic on Dec. 3-4 to respond to the spread of the coronavirus around the globe and its “unprecedented” effects on societies, economies, jobs, global trade and travel.

The General Assembly voted 150-0 on Thursday, with the United States, Israel and Armenia abstaining, on a resolution authorizing the meeting. It will include prerecorded speeches by world leaders and a presentation and discussion led by World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Assembly President Volkan Bozkir called the high-level special session “a historic moment and a test for multilateralism” that “will be defined by our collective action on one of the most critical issues of our time.”

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PARIS — In Paris, 84 people with the coronavirus died Wednesday in region hospitals, which are at 92% capacity.

There are 1,050 COVID-19 patients in intensive care and another 600 patients in ICU with other ailments, Aurelien Rousseau, head of the Paris region health service, told public broadcaster France-Info on Thursday.

France is in a monthlong partial lockdown to lessen rising coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths. Restaurants and non-essential stores are closed, but schools remain open.

The infection rate per 100,000 people remains extremely high at around 480.

With more than 27,000 people hospitalized across France, the COVID-19 patients occupy more than 80% of the nation’s ICU beds, according to the public health agency. That’s the highest level since April.

Overall, France has 1.5 million confirmed cases and 38,674 deaths, the seventh-highest toll worldwide.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Health officials say the number of coronavirus patients in Dutch hospitals has fallen for the second straight day.

Authorities say 2,512 people infected with the coronavirus were in the hospital Thursday, a decline of 60 from the previous day. That includes 607 COVID-19 patients in intensive care

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte enforced a “partial lockdown” last month, closing all bars and restaurants. He tightened the restrictions this week, ordering all public venues such as cinemas, theaters, libraries and museums to shut down for two weeks.

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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian authorities say 43 people have died in the past 24 hours, the highest daily death toll since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

An additional 1,922 people are confirmed positive among 5,200 tests. The nation has faced soaring infections in the past several weeks that haven’t ease despite restrictive rules.

Bosnia has one of the weakest health systems in Europe.

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LONDON — The British government extended for five months a salary support program paying 80% of wages for those unemployed because of coronavirus restrictions.

Treasury chief Rishi Sunak told lawmakers the program, which ended Oct. 31, will be extended until the end of March. The program includes all U.K. nations.

Last week, the government put England into lockdown from Thursday until Dec. 2 because of surging coronavirus infections.

Sunak says the economic effects of lockdown “are much longer lasting for businesses and areas than the duration of any restrictions.”

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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian reported a record 9,850 daily coronavirus cases on Thursday, the third high this week.

Health Minister Maksym Stepanov on Tuesday warned the outbreak in Ukraine may soon take a “catastrophic” turn and “is unfolding at the speed of a hurricane.”

Ukrainian authorities have reported 430,467 confirmed cases and more than 7,900 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

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HELSINKI — Norway’s prime minister has urged citizens to “stay at home as much as possible” and limit social contacts to avoid a new lockdown.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg says the coronavirus measures Norway introduced just last week were not enough. The nation had 3,290 new confirmed infections in the past week.

Norway’s new measures include tighter regulations for public gatherings and restrictions for opening hours for restaurants and the number of visitors allowed to households.

Norway has reported 21,955 confirmed coronavirus cases and 282 deaths.

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ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s prime minister has announced a nationwide three-week lockdown starting Saturday, saying the increase in coronavirus infections must be stopped before the country’s health care system comes under “unbearable” pressure.

The main difference between this lockdown and the one Greece imposed in the spring is that kindergartens and primary schools will remain open. High schools will operate by remote learning. The lockdown goes until Nov. 30.

Residents will only be able to leave their homes for specific reasons such as work, medical appointments or exercise, and after informing authorities by text message. Retail businesses will be shut down but not supermarkets and food stores. Restaurants will operate on a delivery-only basis.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he “chose once again to take drastic measures sooner rather than later” after seeing an “aggressive increase in cases” over the last five days.

On Wednesday, Greece announced a record 18 daily deaths and 2,646 new cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to just under 47,000 and the deaths to 673.

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MOSCOW -- Moscow authorities on Thursday extended online studies for middle and high school students for two more weeks amid a rapid resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered school students from 6th to 11th grade to continue online classes until Nov. 22. “Lots of kids want to return to classes. This is understandable. But in the current situation ... it is obvious that it is too early to relax,” Sobyanin said.

Russia's number of new infections has gone from over 5,000 a day in early September to over 19,000 a day this week. On Thursday, Russian officials reported 19,404 new cases, bringing the country’s total to over 1.7 million. Russian authorities have also reported over 29,000 deaths in the pandemic.

Despite the rapid surge of infections, the authorities have insisted there was no need to impose a second lockdown or shut down businesses.

Moscow, which accounts for roughly 1/4 of Russia’s daily new infections, has ordered its elderly residents to self-isolate at home and employers to have at least 30% of their staff work from home.

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BERLIN — Germany has recorded nearly 20,000 new coronavirus cases in one day, its highest level yet.

The national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, on Thursday said 19,990 infections had been confirmed in the past 24 hours. That tops the previous record of 19,059 set on Saturday.

It brought the total case tally in Germany, a nation of 83 million people, since the pandemic began to 597,583. Another 118 deaths raised the total to 10,930.

Like other European countries, Germany has seen a sharp rise in infections in recent weeks. A four-week partial shutdown took effect on Monday, with bars, restaurants, leisure and sports facilities being closed and new contact restrictions imposed. Shops and schools remain open.

Although Germany’s situation is alarming officials, many other European countries are in worse shape. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Wednesday that Germany has 237 new cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days — some seven times lower than in Belgium.

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WARSAW — Poland has hit a daily record of new infections with over 27,100 cases reported Thursday, up from some 24,700 the day before.

There were also 367 deaths. Most cases were registered in the western Poznan province and in southern Silesia province.

The total number of infections has reached almost 466,680 and almost 6,850 deaths in this nation of 38 million. Poland has been so far declined an offer of help for its coronavirus outbeak from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, saying it has the situation under control.

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NEW DELHI, India — India is reporting 50,209 new coronavirus cases for the previous 24 hours amid a surge in the capital of New Delhi, which officials now say is in its third wave of infections.

The Health Ministry on Thursday also reported 704 deaths from COVID-19 across the country, raising its confirmed toll for the pandemic to 124,315.

New Delhi reported a record-high 6,842 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, giving the city 37,369 active confirmed cases. The city has 6,703 confirmed deaths.

The Health Ministry has attributed the surge in New Delhi to the festival season and warns that the situation can worsen due to people crowding markets for festival shopping.

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