JOHANNESBURG/LONDON — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has gone into quarantine after a guest at a charity dinner he attended tested positive for COVID-19, his office said on Wednesday.

Africa's most advanced economy has been the continent's worst hit, with more than 700,000 coronavirus infections and nearly 20,000 deaths, but new cases peaked in late July before falling sharply.

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has begun a period of self-quarantine following the positive COVID-19 diagnosis of a guest at a dinner attended by the President on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020," the statement from his office said.

The dinner had 35 guests and stuck to strict physical distancing protocols, it added. "The President is showing no symptoms at this time and will, in line with COVID-19 health advice, be tested should symptoms manifest," it said.

Meanwhile, more than 43.72 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,161,943 have died, according to a Reuters tally published on Wednesday.

With 225,828 deaths and around 8.7 million confirmed cases, the United States tops the list of 20 countries with the highest recorded infections and deaths in the world, followed by India, Brazil and Russia.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

In Moscow, The Russian authorities announced 346 new cases, and also 16,202 confirmed cases during the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 emergency Operations Centre said the death toll reached 26,935 and 1,563,976 registered cases. The recovered patients reached 12,361 in the past 24 hours to reach a total of 1,171,301.

In Berlin, COVID-19 took 85 lives and made 14,964 people sick in Germany during the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute reported. The institute said that the death toll reached 10,183 and infection cases 464,239 since the local outbreak of the pandemic.

In Mumbai, India's tally of coronavirus cases stood less than 10,000 away from the grim milestone of 8 million, as 43,893 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, data from the Health Ministry showed.

Totaling 7.99 million, India has the second-most number of confirmed cases after the United States, which has a tally of 8.7 million.

The daily increase had been dipping in India since a peak in September, but health experts warn that the numbers could surge again during the ongoing Hindu religious festival season.

Deaths in India have been relatively low, totaling 120,010, out of which 508 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

In Shanghai, Mainland China reported 42 new COVID-19 cases on Oct. 27, up sharply from 16 a day earlier as new cases were reported in the northwestern Xinjiang region, the country's health authority said on Wednesday.

Of the new cases, 22 of them were locally transmitted infections in Xinjiang following an apparent mass infection in Kashgar. The region's health authority also reported 19 new asymptomatic infections, half of the total number of symptomless infections reported in Mainland China.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Mainland China now stands at 85,868, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

In Tokyo, Japan reported 428 new cases over the last 24 hours, raising the nation’s total to 98,648, the local authorities said. The cumulative death toll rose by three to 1,733. Tokyo added 171 new infections, topping 10 for the ninth straight day, which brought the total cases in the Japanese capital to 30,456. The tallies include those who were linked to the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship in February.

In Jakarta, Indonesia's coronavirus infections have passed the 400,000 mark, with 4,029 new cases confirmed on Wednesday, according to Health Ministry data. The Southeast Asian country has 400,483 cases. With the addition of Wednesday's 100 more COVID-19 deaths, it has recorded 13,612 fatalities. — Agencies