The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide topped 18 million on Monday with the illness continuing its march, after Australia's second-largest city imposed a curfew to halt the spread.
India's coronavirus death toll passed 35,000 on Friday, overtaking that of Italy, as floods affecting millions and killing almost 350 hampered the battle against the pandemic.
Fibre from a relative of the banana tree could replace plastic in millions of face masks and hospital gowns the world is making to fight the coronavirus.
Global COVID-19 cases have surpassed 17 million on Thursday, the most recent statistics of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University showed.
