Developments from around the world

Not all French classrooms can safely reopen Tuesday, the country's education minister acknowledged Sunday, as a persistent rise in infections jeopardizes the government's push to get France's 12.9 million schoolchildren back into class this week. Like many governments around the world, France and Britain want to reopen schools starting Tuesday to reduce the learning gaps between wealthy and poor students that were worsened by the virus lockdown this spring, and to get parents back to work and revive the ailing economy. With several thousand new virus cases reported in France every day, Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told the Journal du Dimanche that some classes will remain closed when the nationwide reopening begins Tuesday, but "as few as possible." French doctors published an appeal Saturday saying that the government's anti-virus measures for schools aren't strict enough.

South Korea has reported 299 new cases of the coronavirus as officials placed limits on restaurant dining and closed fitness centers and after-school academies in the greater capital area to slow the spread. The 17th consecutive day of triple-digit increases brought the national caseload to 19,699. Churches have emerged as a major source of infections in the Seoul region and elsewhere, with many of them failing to properly enforce masks and allowing worshipers to sing and eat together. Clusters have also popped up from restaurants, schools, nursing homes and apartment buildings. Health authorities have ordered churches and nightspots to close and shifted more schools back to remote learning nationwide.

India registered 78,761 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest single-day spike in the world since the pandemic began, just as the government began easing restrictions to help the battered economy. The surge raised India's tally to over 3.5 million and came as the government announced the reopening of the subway in the capital, New Delhi. It also will move ahead with limited sports and religious events next month. A country of 1.4 billion people, India now has the fastest-growing daily coronavirus caseload of any country in the world. One of the reasons is testing: India now conducts nearly 1 million tests every day, compared with just 200,000 two months ago.

Protests against the German government's coronavirus policies continued on Sunday after demonstrations ended in clashes with police the day before. Politicians expressed shock after far-right protesters broke through fences and reached the stairs to Berlin's Reichstag on Saturday. The events are an "intolerable attack on the heart of our democracy," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. On Sunday, about 2,000 people attended an unapproved gathering around the capital's Siegessaeule monument, and some resisted orders to leave, according to a police spokesman. Police clashed with far-right protesters Saturday and made about 200 arrests after tens of thousands of people rallied mostly peacefully against restrictions to contain the pandemic.