French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced a curfew imposed last week on Paris and eight other cities would be extended to 38 more departments, confining 46 million out of the country's 67 million population to their homes from 9pm to 6am.

"A second wave of the coronavirus epidemic is now underway in France and Europe. The situation is very serious," Castex said at a news conference.

In Spain, where Health Minister Salvador Illa said the epidemic was now "out of control" in many areas, regional authorities were expected to press the government to impose a country-wide curfew later on Thursday.

After Europe appeared to have gained a measure of control over the epidemic following the dramatic lockdowns of March and April, a surge in cases over recent weeks has put the continent back at the heart of the crisis.

While hospitalisations and deaths have not so far overwhelmed health systems as they did during the initial wave early this year, authorities in many countries worry the situation is rapidly reaching a tipping point.

Germany, which reported more than 10,000 daily cases for the first time, extended travel warnings for Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, most of Austria and Italian regions including Rome.

"We still have a chance to slow a further spread of the virus," Lothar Wieler, of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's infectious diseases agency, said in Berlin.

More than 5.3 million people across Europe have contracted the disease and over 204,000 have died, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

That compares to 8.3 million cases in the United States and 7.7 million in India.

Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes went into intensive care on Thursday, just a day after German Health Minister Jens Spahn tested positive.

The resurgence over recent weeks stands in contrast to several countries in Asia, from China to South Korea or New Zealand, where draconian lockdowns and rigorous contact tracing have helped contain the disease.

India added fewer than 60,000 new coronavirus cases for a third day.

The health ministry reported 55,839 new cases on Thursday.

The 702 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours brought its total fatalities to 116,616.

Authorities are concerned relaxing attitudes might cause a resurgence.

The Election Commission issued a warning after political campaigning drew large crowds without masks and social distancing in eastern Bihar state where voting for state elections is due to begin next week.

Globally, more than 41.35 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus and 1,132,729 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Australian Associated Press