People sit at the Rhine promenade on a field with painted circles for social distancing in Duesseldorf, western Germany on Sunday. Photo: AFP

South Africa reimposed a nationwide curfew on Sunday while Spain's Catalonia region forced hundreds of thousands of residents back into lockdown as coronavirus cases accelerated in many parts of the world.

Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been reported, a record level, according to an AFP tally.

In just a month and a half, the number of cases worldwide has doubled, according to the count based on official figures.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country faced a "coronavirus storm" that was "far fiercer and more destructive than any we have known before" as he reimposed a night-time curfew and also a ban on alcohol sales lifted barely six weeks ago.

New infections have topped 12,000 per day in South Africa in recent days, making it the fourth-biggest contributor to new worldwide cases after the US, Brazil and India.

The government of Spain's Catalonia region Sunday told residents in and around the town of Lerida to go back into home confinement.

The area, with a population of more than 200,000, had already been isolated from the rest of the region last weekend.

Surveys show most Americans are unhappy with how US President Donald Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the November election, has handled the public health crisis.

Across the planet, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed over 566,000 and triggered massive economic damage.

Mexico became the country with the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the world on Sunday, climbing to a total of 35,006 deaths.

AFP