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The central government office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong has been inaugurated.
The office was established in accordance with Hong Kong's national security law which took effect on June 30.
Its tasks include collecting intelligence and information regarding national security.
An expert team of the World Health Organization will visit China this weekend to prepare for an international mission to identify the zoonotic source of COVID-19.
That mission will help people better understand animal hosts for COVID-19 and ascertain how the disease jumped between animals and humans.
But experts suggest the mission is complex and could take quite some time to complete its work.
The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
The withdrawal notice was sent to the U.N. Secretary-General on Monday and will take effect in July of next year.
A spokesman for Antonio Guterres says the UN chief is verifying with the WHO whether all the conditions for the withdrawal have been met.
Under the terms of the withdrawal, the U.S. must meet its financial obligations to the WHO before it can be finalized.
As the WHO's largest donor, the U.S. provides the agency with more than 400 million U.S. dollars per year.
It owes 200 million dollars in current and past dues.
President Donald Trump vowed in May to terminate U.S. participation in the WHO, citing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and relationship with China.
But the move has been assailed by health officials and critics of his administration.
The World Health Organization says the coronavirus is continuing to gain pace globally and warns that a spike in deaths could soon follow.
WHO emergencies program chief Mike Ryan expressed concern about a marked increase in the number of daily cases.
"If you imagine that somewhere in April and May, we were dealing with 100,000 cases a day. Today we are dealing with 200,000 cases a day. That is not purely as a result of testing. This epidemic is accelerating. And we are lucky. I hope part of it is that we have become better."
Ryan says that the number of deaths appear to be stable for the moment.
But he cautions that there's often a lag time between when cases increase and when deaths are reported.
China has completed all legal procedures for its accession to the Arms Trade Treaty.
The Permanent Representative of China to the UN has deposited the country's instrument of accession to the treaty to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The treaty will enter into force for China 90 days after the deposit.
The Arms Trade Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2013 and entered into force one year later.
