Iceland reinstated as of today some restrictions on public gatherings after finding at least two new infection clusters in the country, the government said in a statement. “The measures we are introducing now are intended to have the effect of sparing us the need for more drastic restrictions later,” said Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.

British PM Boris Johnson announced on Friday that he would postpone the next stage of lockdown easing for at least two weeks due to a pick-up in Covid-19 infection rates.  “On Saturday, 1 August, we had hoped to reopen in England a number of the higher-risk settings that had remained closed  Today I am afraid we are postponing those changes for at least a fortnight,” Johnson said at a news conference.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced on Friday that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections, scheduled for September, by one year, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak, news wires reported.

Tens of thousands of supporters of President Alexander Lukashenko's top election rival hit the streets for a huge opposition rally in Minsk on Thursday, news wires reported. Political novice Svetlana Tikhanovskaya mobilised some 63,000 people, human rights organisation Viasna said. It marks the biggest opposition action in the ex-Soviet Republic in years.

Joshua Wong and a group of fellow pro-democracy activists were disqualified from Hong Kong's upcoming 2020 Legislative Council elections on Thursday, the Hong Kong government confirmed in a statement.

The US President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a “delay” to the presidential election, scheduled for 3 November, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud, news wires reported.

The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built, a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills and lasers, was launched on Thursday as part of a long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life, news wires reported.

Britain is raising the self-isolation period for people who test positive for the coronavirus or have symptoms to 10 days from seven days, news wires reported.

Belarus suspects that the group of alleged Russian mercenaries it detained on Wednesday of plotting “acts of terrorism” ahead of a presidential election in August and summoned Russia’s ambassador for an explanation, news wires reported. Minsk’s handling of the situation risks worsening relations with traditional ally Russia, which has so far yet to set out its own position, Reuters commented.

Government leaders and officials from six Western Balkan nations met on Wednesday for a virtual summit to discuss how to prevent and address economic stagnation and social impacts from the coronavirus pandemic that could derail or delay national efforts to join the EU, news wires reported. The summit “gathered” presidents, prime ministers and government ministers from Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.