Coronavirus infections and deaths continue to creep up as the virus makes its way around the world.

There were over 680,000 confirmed cases worldwide early Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, the United States, the current epicenter of the virus, has 124,686 cases. Italy, Europe's most afflicted country, had 92,472.

The global coronavirus pandemic death toll was nearly 31,000 Sunday, with the U.S. and France each posting more than 2,000 deaths in a single day, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.

Italy, which has seen more than 10,000 deaths, accounts for a third of the global total.

In Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak began late last year, the city slowly began to reopen Saturday after months of near-total isolation. Thousands of people began arriving in the city in Hubei province.

Britain has reported 17,315 cases of the virus and 1,019 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

"We know things will get worse before they get better," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a letter being sent to British households about battling COVID-19.

Johnson, who is in isolation because he has the new coronavirus, also urged people to observe the lockdown and stay home, in an effort to prevent overwhelming the National Health Service and to "save lives."

Spain reported 838 deaths just in the past 24 hours, taking the country's overall toll to more than 6,500.

Alireza Vahabzadeh, an adviser to Iran's health minister, tweeted on Sunday that then country's death toll has risen to 2,640 and the number of infected people has reached 38,309.

"In the past 24 hours, we had 123 deaths and 2,901 people have been infected, bringing the total number of infected people to 38,309," Vahabsadeh said.

In his monthly radio address Sunday, India's prime minister asked for the country's forgiveness for the 21-day lockdown he enforced last week on the entire South Asian nation in the battle against COVID-19.

"I seek your forgiveness," Narenda Modi said. "I am sure you will forgive me that you had to undergo so much trouble . . . but these are special circumstances . . . this is a battle for life and death."

Thousands of people fled their homes after Modi ordered a 21-day lockdown that began Wednesday. Most of them are day laborers who, along with millions of others in India, lost their jobs because of restrictions on activity.

India has 987 confirmed COVID cases and 25 deaths.

New York, with more than 52,000 confirmed cases of the virus and more than 700 deaths, is the largest hot spot of COVID-19 activity in the U.S.

Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.

Embed Copy

To help ease the burden on New York City's health care system, which is being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Navy is sending a hospital ship to New York Harbor to help care for non-coronavirus patients.

President Donald Trump said he had been considering a quarantine of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, all being hard-hit by COVID-19. But he backed away from such a move, instead urging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to consider a "strong travel advisory" for the tri-state area.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the donation Saturday of 250,000 surplus protective masks to medical professionals in New York "who have been working courageously, selflessly, and tirelessly in response to the spread of COVID-19 across the boroughs, in the hope that they play some small role in saving lives."