Editor's note: This is the 29th article in the COVID-19 Global Roundup series. Here is the previous one. 

Harsh lockdowns aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic were extended worldwide on Monday, as the death toll soared past 37,600. The tough measures have confined some two-fifths of the globe's population to their homes so far.

However, there is a sliver of hope that European lockdowns which started several weeks ago are starting to bear fruit, said Mike Ryan, head of the health emergencies program at the World Health Organization on Monday, and hopefully Italy and Spain are approaching a peak.

In the United States, Washington D.C., and the surrounding suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, known as the "DMV" area, officially entered a loose lockdown on Tuesday. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser each issued mandatory stay-at-home orders, prohibiting residents from leaving home.

The orders came after U.S. President Donald Trump made a dramatic course reversal and announced that he would not be moving to ease the guidelines and get the economy back up and running by Easter on April 12. Instead he announced that social distancing guidelines will be extended to April 30, which had been set to expire Monday.

Many states and local governments already have stiffer controls in place on mobility and gatherings, which have put more than two thirds of the population under lockdown orders in the U.S.

"We are nowhere near over the hump," warned Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. "We still have an awful lot of work to do to flatten the curve."

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Russia also issued partial lockdown orders in more than a dozen regions including the capital Moscow on Monday after the country recorded its biggest one-day rise in coronavirus cases for the sixth day in a row.

Additionally, more than 80 regions are considering imposing stay-at-home orders, according to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 20 percent of residents were ignoring orders to self-isolate, but hoped an IT system can be put in operation by the end of the week that would allow authorities to monitor the movement of people.

President Vladimir Putin urged the residents of Moscow to "very seriously" respect a lockdown that has closed all non-essential shops, including restaurants, after the official tally of coronavirus cases rose by 302 to 1,836, including nine fatalities.

In Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe implemented stay-at-home measures from Monday.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a two-week lockdown in some cities on Monday, including Africa's biggest city Lagos and the capital Abuja, triggering a last-minute rush as residents hurried to stock up on food and other supplies.

People in New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia could be heavily fined or jailed for leaving their home without a good reason from Tuesday under sweeping new powers designed to slow infection rates.

As of Tuesday, NSW had 2,032 confirmed cases of the virus, almost half the country's total. The national death toll stands at 19.

While fears of spiking cases drove countries and regions to follow Italy, Spain and France in imposing full lockdowns, Europe remains the epicenter of the pandemic with the death toll there crossing 26,500 on Monday. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world has risen above 784,000, with 413,000 of those in Europe.

Across Europe, countries are stepping up their previous measures to contain the spread of the virus, with Hungary and Ireland both introducing 15-day lockdowns last week.

France, Belgium and Spain, already nearly two weeks into their own lockdowns, both extended their self-isolation policies by another two weeks.

Even though Italy's death toll grew by 812 in 24 hours to 11,591, figures from the civil protection service showed the rate of new COVID-19 infections are hitting a new low of just 4.1 percent, and the number of people who had recovered reached a new high.

"The data are better but our work continues," said Giulio Gallera, the chief medical officer of Lombardy, Italy's worst-hit region.

Monday, the country announced it is extending the economically crippling lockdown until "at least" mid-April to stem the coronavirus. The near three-week shutdown "had been very tough economically," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Spain's El Pais newspaper.

"It cannot last very long," he said. "We can study ways (of lifting restrictions). But it will have to be done gradually."

The shutdown has already put millions out of work and forced governments to rush through huge stimulus plans. The governments are trying to devise ways to strike a balance between economy and public health.

Germany and Austria are to join a small but growing number of European countries making the wearing of face masks outside home compulsory.

Wearing masks is a familiar measure to protect people from getting sick during public health emergencies and the only other countries in Europe to require face masks in public are Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

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Ordering the general public to wear masks may have a role when Austria considers unwinding the lockdown measures that are currently in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, but crippling the economy as a side effect.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday that masks will be handed out in front of supermarkets, and "it will be compulsory to wear them in supermarkets."

The spokesperson for the German Health Ministry Hanno Kautz was asked at a news conference whether Germany was considering following Austria in requiring shoppers to wear non-medical face masks in supermarkets.

He said such masks could help protect others from contracting the illness from the wearer.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to 57,298 and 455 people have died from the disease, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday.

(With input from agencies)