COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 3 August

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 198.9 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.23 million. More than 4.21 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.

Japanese officials have announced plans to only hospitalize COVID-19 patients who are seriously ill and those at risk of becoming so.

The Japanese health ministry has also carried out a threat to name and shame people who fail to comply with COVID-19 quarantine rules after returning from overseas.

New South Wales, Australia, could ease lockdown restrictions if 50% of the population is vaccinated. The current lockdown is due to be lifted on 29 August.

The Chinese city of Wuhan will test all residents for COVID-19 after three domestically transmitted cases were reported on 2 August.

South Korea has detected its first two cases of the Delta Plus COVID-19 variant. The variant is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N, which is also found in the Beta variant.

Germany will offer a booster shot against COVID-19 to vulnerable people in September, the health ministers of the country's 16 states announced yesterday.

Nigeria has received 4 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the US government.

The Philippines has announced an extension to a night curfew in Manila as it tightens restrictions to tackle a potential surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant.

Morocco has also announced its night curfew will start two hours earlier, at 9pm local time, as it too tightens restrictions to counter a surge in cases.

70% of US adults have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Researchers around the world are working to better understand the Delta variant and whether it's more likely to make people sicker than before.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the variant is "likely more severe" than previous variants. The agency cited research in Canada, Singapore and Scotland showing that people infected with the Delta variant were more likely to be hospitalized than patients earlier in the pandemic.

The CDC report said that Delta is as contagious as chickenpox and far more contagious than the common cold or flu.

It comes as the variant continues to drive a surge in cases across the United States. Florida and Louisiana were both at or near their highest hospitalization numbers of the pandemic as of yesterday.

"These are the darkest days of this pandemic," Dr. Catherine O'Neal, Chief Medical Officer of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said at a news conference.