Coronavirus updates: CDC now 'strongly recommends' masks on airplanes, buses

Further restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 came into effect in Italy on Monday, after a sharp rise in infections.

Under the new measures, all bars, pubs and restaurants across the European country must close from midnight until 5 a.m., while gambling venues must close at 9 p.m. Restaurants are allowed to serve no more than six people per table and only after 6 p.m.

Local festivals are now banned, and mayors can close streets and public squares after 9 p.m. to halt gatherings.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned that gyms and swimming pools may also be shut down next week if they don't follow the safety protocols.

"These measures are aimed to avoid another lockdown," Conte said Sunday while announcing the new rules. "The country cannot face another lockdown that would compromise the economic fabric of the country."

The move comes after Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, confirmed 11,705 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, an all-time high.

ABC News' Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.

Russia confirmed another 15,982 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, its highest daily tally yet.

An additional 179 deaths from COVID-19 were also registered in the past 24 hours, down from last week's peak of 286. The cumulative totals now stand at 1,369,313 cases and 23,723 deaths, according to Russia's coronavirus response headquarters.

The country of 145 million people has the fourth-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world, behind only the United States, India and Brazil.

More than 33% of the newly confirmed cases -- 5,376 -- and over 28% of the newly registered deaths -- 51 -- were reported in the capital, Moscow, according to country's coronavirus response headquarters.

Although Russia has been breaking its own records for daily case counts and deaths almost every day since Oct. 9, authorities there are resisting shutting down businesses again. Few measures have been imposed in Moscow, the epicenter of the country's COVID-19 outbreak and recent surge.

ABC News' Alina Lobzina contributed to this report.

More than 40 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.

The global tally crossed the 40 million mark on Monday morning in yet another grim milestone of the pandemic.

The United States has the highest number of diagnosed cases of any country, with more than 8.1 million, but is closely followed by India, which has over 7.5 million. Brazil, Russia and Argentina are also in the top five, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat, who is battling COVID-19, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Israel on Sunday, according to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Erekat, who lives in the town of Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, disclosed earlier this month that he had contracted COVID-19. The 65-year-old has a history of health problems and received a lung transplant in the United States in 2017.

"Following his contraction of COVID-19, and due to the chronic health problems he faces in the respiratory system, Dr. Erekat's condition now requires medical attention in a hospital," the Palestinian Liberation Organization said in a statement Sunday.

Erekat's brother told Agence France-Presse that "his situation is not good."

Erekat, who serves as the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is one of the most senior advisors to the Palestinian president. He is a longtime proponent of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there have been more than 42,490 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with at least 381 deaths in the West Bank.

ABC News' Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.