Covid-19 global updates: England marks ‘Freedom Day’ as experts blast lifting of restrictions

Here are some significant developments:

• Three South African soccer players tested positive for the coronavirus at Tokyo’s Olympic Village over the weekend, marking the first confirmed cases among athletes just days before the Opening Ceremonies.
• Australian authorities said Monday that they were extending a lockdown in Victoria state, including the city of Melbourne, after detecting more locally transmitted coronavirus cases. State Premier Daniel Andrews did not say how long the restrictions would be in force.
• More than 80 percent of some 300 personnel aboard a South Korean destroyer in the Gulf of Aden have tested positive for covid-19, Reuters reported Monday, citing the country’s military leadership.
• Indonesia, facing what experts call a “catastrophic” coronavirus surge as the delta variant rips through hospitals, is now recording some of the highest daily case numbers in the world, outpacing global pandemic hot spots such as India and Brazil.