French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss a joint initiative to spur the EU's recovery from the coronavirus crisis on Monday, which will be presented during a joint press conference afterwards, the French presidency said.

German football champions Bayern Munich were set to play their first match in more than two months on Sunday as coronavirus restrictions ease in parts of Europe, but the devastating pandemic remains on the march elsewhere with deaths soaring in Brazil.

Italy will reopen to European tourists from early June and scrap a 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the government said, as it quickened the exit from the coronavirus lockdown.

The United States recorded 1,237 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing its grim total to 88,730, according to the latest real-time tally Saturday reported by Johns Hopkins University.

The country -- hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities -- has now confirmed a total of 1,466,682 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.

Qatar on Sunday began enforcing the world's toughest penalties of up to three years' imprisonment for failing to wear masks in public, as it battles one of the world's highest coronavirus infection rates.

Russia on Saturday recorded its highest daily death toll yet from the coronavirus while new cases fell to the lowest level in two weeks.

With an expert flick of the wrist, South African nurse Bhelekazi Mdlalose collected throat swabs from young men lining up for coronavirus testing at a run-down hostel in downtown Johannesburg.

Manila's malls set air conditioners to warm and switched off free wifi to stop people lingering as many of them cautiously reopened on Saturday, after a two-month lockdown that brought the sprawling hubs of community life to a halt.

Italy will reopen to tourists from early June and scrap a 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the government said on Saturday, as it quickened the exit from the coronavirus lockdown.

Beaches in France and Italy were open Saturday for the first weekend since the easing of coronavirus lockdowns while football fans awaited the return of major league action with Germany's Bundesliga set to kick off.