BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s coronavirus cases are rising so fast, the Republican governor is deploying the National Guard to notify people of positive test results.

Gov. Doug Burgum and the North Dakota Department of Health announced they’re shifting 50 National Guard members who had worked in contract tracing to notify people who test positive. It’s been taking health officials up to three days to notify people after they’ve tested positive, the department said.

Public health officials will no longer notify close contacts of people who tested positive; instead those individuals will be instructed to self-notify close contacts and direct them to the department’s website.

North Dakota's 1,224 new cases of the coronavirus per 100,000 people in the past two weeks is the highest per capita in the nation, according to data by Johns Hopkins University.

The state’s numbers have prompted questions over how Burgum, a former Microsoft executive up for re-election, has handled the coronavirus. He’s asked citizens to voluntarily wear masks.

Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney, a surgeon, has called for a mask mandate statewide. The mayor says there’s “better compliance if it’s the whole state."

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— World Health Organization: Europe records 927,000 virus cases in a week

— Pope reverts to mask-less ways at indoor audience despite outbreaks

— India reports 54,044 new coronavirus cases in past 24 hours

— The economy in U.S. cities slowed by coronavirus. Downtown revitalizations have stalled in places like Detroit, Cleveland and Oakland, California.

— South Korea may be one of the world’s most wired nations, but remote learning is a challenge for many students.

— Tokyo Olympic officials want the world to know they are working on measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Exact plans are not expected until early next year.

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Follow all of AP’s coronavirus pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

BERLIN — German states are imposing stricter coronavirus as new infections rise across the country.

The Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control center, says 7,595 new cases had been recorded. The number of new cases per 100,000 over the last seven days had climbed to 51.3.

The country’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, announced all students from fifth grade up will wear masks in class when they return from the fall break on Monday.

The measure is expected to remain until at least the Christmas break. The state is also committing 50 million euros ($60 million) to purchase mobile ventilation units for classrooms.

Meanwhile, the southern state of Bavaria announced new restrictions that would kick in if its rate of infection rises to more than 100 per 100,000 residents over seven days. The previous restrictions took effect at rates of 35 per 100,000 and then 50 per 100,000. The state is currently at 54.96 per 100,000 residents over seven days.

The rate in Berlin rose to more than 100 per 100,000 over seven days for the first time on Wednesday, hitting 104.4, according to state health authorities. It announced stronger restrictions earlier in the week.

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ROME — The Italian military is mobilizing 200 drive-in test sites operated by armed forces personnel to help combat the surge in coronavirus cases.

The Italian defense ministry announced 1,400 members of the armed forces will have the nationwide sites operational within the next days. It will conduct as many as 30,000 swab tests per day.

By month’s end, laboratories in Italian military hospitals will help speed up test results.

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Bucharest, Romania — Romania hit an all-time high Wednesday with 4,848 positive coronavirus cases as authorities carried out a record number of tests.

Romania reported 37,025 coronavirus tests, the highest so far. It added 69 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The rate of infections over the past 14 days passed the threshold of three people per 1,000 in 255 localities nationwide, all of which entered the “red scenario,” according to data from Romania’s Emergency Services Department.

In the red scenario, masks are mandatory in all public venues and restaurants, cafes, theaters and cinemas are closed. Schools are shut down and switch to online learning.

Romania has reported 191,102 coronavirus cases and 6,065 confirmed deaths.

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SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgaria hit a record level of 1,336 new coronavirus infections, the health ministry reported on Wednesday.

New restrictive measures are starting Thursday with mandatory mask-wearing outdoors. Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said wearing protective masks, along with social distancing and frequent disinfection, will slow the spread of the virus by about 30 percent and help prevent overwhelming the health system.

According to official reports, 71 doctors and other medical staff have tested positive in the past 24 hours, bringing the total of infected medics to 1,622.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev reportedly cut short a visit to Estonia on Tuesday because of contact with a coronavirus-positive person. Upon his return to Sofia, Radev showed reporters a negative test result and his office announced Wednesday that he tested negative for a second time.

The Balkan nation of 7 million people has 31,863 confirmed cases and 1,019 deaths.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s military-backed National Command and Operation Center has issued a warning that another lockdown could be imposed to contain COVID-19 deaths if people don’t stop violating social distancing rules.

The announcement on Wednesday came after Pakistan reported reported 660 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours and 19 deaths.

The daily death toll was one of Pakistan’s highest in more than two months. Deaths from COVID-19 have steadily increased since the government lifted its months-long lockdown in August.

Pakistan has reported 324,744 confirmed cases of the virus and 6,692 virus-related deaths since February.

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WARSAW — Poland has reported a new record for daily coronavirus cases after conducting a record number of virus tests.

The country on Wednesday reported 10,040 new confirmed cases and 13 deaths, plus another 117 people died of COVID-19 combined with other health issues. There were 60,000 tests performed in 24 hours.

Authorities in large cities are taking steps to turn conference halls into temporary COVID-19 hospitals, and the city of Krakow is planning to reopen a disused hospital to treat coronavirus patients.

Polish lawmakers are debating legislation that would give more funds to medics and temporarily exempt them from legal responsibility for mistakes that take place while treating people for COVID-19.

The country of 38 million has almost 203,000 total reported cases and nearly 3,900 confirmed deaths.

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has gone back to his mask-less old ways during his general audience at the Vatican despite surging coronavirus infections across Europe.

Francis shunned a facemask during his Wednesday public audience in the Vatican auditorium, and remained mask-less when he greeted a half-dozen bishops at the end. He shook hands and leaned in to chat privately with each one.

The pope himself donned a facemask in public for the first time during a liturgical service on Tuesday.

Vatican regulations now require facemasks to be worn indoors and out where distancing can’t be “always guaranteed.” The Vatican hasn’t responded to questions about why the pope wasn’t following either Vatican regulations or basic public health measures to prevent COVID-19.

At age 83 and with part of a lung missing from an illness in his 20s, the pope is at high-risk for COVID-19 complications.

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GENEVA — The World Health Organization says Europe again reported a new high in the weekly number of coroavirus cases during the pandemic last week, recording more than 927,000 cases.

The U.N. health agency says in its latest global report on the coronavirus that the continent had a 25% spike in confirmed cases last week and was responsible for 38% of all new cases reported worldwide.

France, Britain, Russia, the Czech Republic and Italy were responsible for more than half of new COVID-19 cases in the region.

The WHO report says the number of deaths in Europe also “continues to climb,” and increased by one-third from the previous week.

Slovenia has declared a 30-day state of emergency with a curfew in response to the increasing coronavirus transmission. WHO says Slovenia has reported a total of 164 deaths, including 12 confirmed deaths in the past week.

(This item has been corrected by WHO to indicate 164 total deaths in Slovenia.)

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LONDON — The South Yorkshire region of northern England is under the country’s tightest restrictions to curb the coronavirus, joining a densely populated area of the country where the measures have already been imposed.

Sheffield Mayor Dan Jarvis say the Tier 3 restrictions will start Saturday. He says local authorities had struck a deal with the British government on financial support for the area to accompany the measures.

“We all recognize the gravity of the situation and have taken the responsible route to ensure we save lives and livelihoods, and protect our (health service),” Jarvis said.

Under the new rules, pubs have to close, people are barred from mixing with members of other households and travel in and out of the area is discouraged. The measures have caused tension between Britain’s Conservative government and local authorities in northern England, which has the country’s highest infection rates.

On Tuesday the government imposed the same restrictions on Greater Manchester, the U.K.’s second-biggest urban area.

Britain has had Europe’s deadliest coronavirus outbreak, with nearly 44,000 confirmed deaths.

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ZAGREB, Croatia — The European nations of Croatia and Slovenia are reporting new record daily numbers of coronavirus cases.

Authorities in Croatia said Wednesday that 1,424 people had tested positive in 24 hours and 11 people had died with the virus.

In Slovenia, a nation of 2 million people, authorities reported 1,503 confirmed infections out of nearly 6,000 tests. The country reported eight COVID-19 deaths since a day earlier.

Croatia, Slovenia and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe have faced a surge in infections in the past weeks, scrambling to halt the wave.

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PRAGUE — Coronavirus infections in the Czech Republic have hit new record levels as the number of confirmed cases in one day soared to almost 12,000.

The Health Ministry says the day-to-day increase reached 11,984 on Tuesday, almost 900 more than the previous record set on Friday.

The country has registered a total of 193,246 cases since the start of the pandemic, about one third in the last seven days.

The number of the hospitalized surpassed 4,000 with 634 in serious condition, putting pressure on the health system. So far, 1,619 have died with 97 the highest day increase recorded on Monday.

New restrictive measures are coming into effect on Wednesday with mandatory mask-wearing outdoors and in cars. The government is also meeting early Wednesday to consider additional measures.

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NEW DELHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says laxity could lead to a new surge in infections, as authorities reported 54,044 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally past 7.6 million.

The Health Ministry on Wednesday also reported 717 additional deaths for a total of 115,914.

The death toll and new cases have been on the decline in India since last month. But Modi is urging people to continue wearing masks and observing social distancing until a vaccine is available.

Health officials have warned about the potential for the virus to spread during the ongoing religious festival season that includes huge gatherings in temples and shopping districts.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian authorities say they’re treating a coronavirus case in the city of Melbourne as a rare reinfection.

The only coronavirus case reported in the former hot spot of Victoria state on Tuesday had also tested positive to COVID-19 in July.

Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said Wednesday an expert panel had decided to classify the case as a reinfection rather than shedding viral remnants of the July infection.

Andrews says the classification reflected “an abundance of caution” rather than conclusive evidence. He assumed further testing would be conducted into the case in search of a definitive result.

Melbourne has been in lockdown since early July, but restrictions in Australia’s second-largest city are easing this week as daily infection tallies remain low.

Victoria reported three new cases on Wednesday. The state’s second wave peaked at 725 new infections in a day in early August.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Eighteen fishing crewmen who last week flew to New Zealand from Moscow have tested positive for the coronavirus, underscoring the difficulty New Zealand faces in trying to import needed workers while remaining virtually virus free.

A total of 235 crew from Russia and Ukraine were on the flight chartered by three fishing companies. Before leaving Moscow, they were supposed to have self-isolated for two weeks and tested negative for the virus. All remain in quarantine at a Christchurch hotel, and health officials say they expect more to test positive.

One of the companies says the workers were brought in because the future of an important industry is at stake. The company says it uses foreign crew because New Zealand workers either aren’t adequately trained or willing to do the work.

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