Confirmed COVID-19 cases have exceeded 31.7 million globally, with over 974,000 fatalities and more than 21.8 million recoveries, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.

The Chinese mainland recorded seven new cases on Wednesday, all from overseas. It is the 39th consecutive day it has reported no new domestically transmitted cases.

The U.S. has registered over 201,000 deaths and more than 6.9 million cases – both the highest in the world. The CDC's ensemble forecast projected up to 218,000 coronavirus deaths by October 10.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that a second wave of the coronavirus is already underway in most of Canada, warning autumn "could be much worse" than spring.

Some EU countries including France are tightening local restrictions to rein in cases increase.

Japanese government officials revealed on Wednesday that the country intends to substantially relax its border control measures, allowing more foreigners to enter for stays of three months or longer starting as soon as early October.

New York's Metropolitan Opera on Wednesday announced the "painful" cancellation of its entire 2020-21 season over the still-spreading coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. state of Missouri Governor Mike Parson has tested positive for COVID-19, the governor's office announced on Wednesday.

The 65-year-old governor of the Midwest state is the second U.S. governor known to have tested positive for COVID-19, after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, who contracted the virus in July.

"Right now, I feel fine, no symptoms of any kind," Parson said in a video posted to Facebook. "But right now, we just got to take the quarantine procedures in place." Parson has canceled his official appearances for the rest of the week, local media reported.

On Wednesday morning, the governor's office revealed that the state's first lady, Teresa Parson, also tested positive after developing mild symptoms, including a runny nose and cough.

The UK government has started rolling back on its summer plans to stimulate the economy in an attempt to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 infections from overwhelming the country.

Speaking in the House of Commons, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "For the time being, this virus is a fact of our lives and I must tell the house and the country that our fight against it will continue. We will not listen to those who say 'let the virus rip' nor to those who urge a permanent lockdown."

So for now, the UK is avoiding a full lockdown, though many areas of the country are under a partial lockdown. And while Johnson has said he does not want to see another lockdown, it has not been ruled out.

The UK's alert level has been upgraded from three to four, this is the second-highest level for COVID-19 in the country. On Tuesday, the government announced that in England, where possible people should work from home.

Organizers of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games plan to test all foreign athletes for COVID-19 when they arrive in Japan next year.

The Games were postponed to July-August 2021 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year.