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COVID-19 news update Jul/2
source:WTMF 2020-07-02 [Medicine]

 

 

 

 

#

Country,
Other

Total
Cases

New
Cases

Total
Deaths

 

World

10,795,100

+196,901

518,058

1

USA

2,779,953

+51,097

130,798

2

Brazil

1,453,369

+44,884

60,713

3

Russia

654,405

+6,556

9,536

4

India

605,220

+19,428

17,848

5

UK

313,483

+829

43,906

6

Spain

296,739

+388

28,363

7

Peru

288,477

+3,264

9,860

8

Chile

282,043

+2,650

5,753

9

Italy

240,760

+182

34,788

10

Iran

230,211

+2,549

10,958

11

Mexico

226,089

+5,432

27,769

12

Pakistan

213,470

+4,133

4,395

13

Turkey

201,098

+1,192

5,150

14

Germany

196,324

+492

9,061

15

Saudi Arabia

194,225

+3,402

1,698

16

France

165,719

+918

29,861

17

South Africa

159,333

+8,124

2,749

18

Bangladesh

149,258

+3,775

1,888

19

Canada

104,271

+67

8,615

20

Colombia

102,009

+4,163

3,470

21

Qatar

97,003

+915

115

22

China

83,534

+3

4,634

23

Egypt

69,814

+1,503

3,034

24

Sweden

69,692

+103

5,370

25

Argentina

67,197

+2,667

1,351

26

Belarus

62,424

+306

398

27

Belgium

61,509

+82

9,754

28

Ecuador

58,257

+1,825

4,576

29

Indonesia

57,770

+1,385

2,934

30

Iraq

51,524

+2,415

2,050

31

Netherlands

50,273

 

6,113

32

UAE

49,069

+402

316

33

Kuwait

46,940

+745

358

34

Ukraine

44,998

+664

1,173

35

Singapore

44,122

+215

26

36

Portugal

42,454

+313

1,579

37

Oman

41,194

+1,124

185

38

Kazakhstan

41,065

+944

188

39

Philippines

38,511

+997

1,270

40

Poland

34,775

+382

1,477

41

Panama

34,463

+913

645

42

Dominican Republic

33,387

+819

754

43

Bolivia

33,219

+1,094

1,123

44

Switzerland

31,851

+137

1,965

45

Afghanistan

31,836

+319

774

46

Bahrain

27,414

+656

92

47

Romania

27,296

+326

1,667

48

Nigeria

26,484

+790

603

49

Israel

26,257

+1,013

322

50

Armenia

26,065

+523

453

51

Ireland

25,477

+4

1,738

52

Honduras

19,558

+740

497

53

Japan

18,723

+130

974

54

Ghana

18,134

+393

117

55

Azerbaijan

18,112

+588

220

56

Guatemala

18,096

+687

773

57

Austria

17,873

+107

705

58

Moldova

16,898

+285

549

59

Serbia

14,836

+272

281

60

Algeria

14,272

+365

920

 

Source:https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

More Republicans embrace masks despite resistance from Trump.

 

Mitch McConnell, center, the Senate majority leader, has been urging Americans to wear masks.

Mitch McConnell, center, the Senate majority leader, has been urging Americans to wear masks.Credit...Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times

Some conservatives and libertarians have made opposition to masks a political cause, but, as cases surge, a growing number of Republican governors are trying to send a different message.

Vice President Mike Pence has abruptly started wearing and recommending masks. Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming shared a photograph on Twitter of her father, the former vice president, wearing a cowboy hat and pale blue surgical mask, adding the hashtag “#realmenwearmasks.”

Some Republicans have shunned masks because Mr. Trump has declined to wear them and stressed that doing so was voluntary. “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” he said in April. On Tuesday, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Senate Health Committee, appealed to the president to wear one.

The new entreaties follow months of misinformation, debate and confusion about the question of wearing a mask. Early in the pandemic, government officials instructed Americans not to buy or wear masks. In April, they revised that guidance, advising that cloth face coverings were recommended.

Most of the public does not appear to have an aversion to masks. In a New York Times/Siena College poll published last week, 54 percent of people said they always wear a mask when they expect to be in proximity to other people, while another 22 percent said they usually wear a mask. Masks will soon be mandated in at least 19 states.

Mr. Trump spoke less skeptically about masks on Wednesday than he has in the past. Asked whether Americans should be required to wear them, he said: “Well, I don’t know if you need mandatory because you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance. You talk about social distancing. But I’m all for masks. I think masks are good. I would wear one if I were in a group of people and I was close.”

Mr. Trump said that he had worn a mask before, but that it was usually not necessary, because he and anyone allowed near him were regularly tested. “But if I were in a tight situation with people, I would, absolutely,” he said.

Mr. Trump added that he “sort of liked” the way he looked in a mask.

“It was a dark black mask,” he said, “and I thought it looked OK. I looked like the Lone Ranger.”

Mr. Trump also said on Wednesday that he believed the virus was “going to sort of just disappear,” even as cases rise rapidly across the nation.

 

 

Will Europe’s economy recover faster than America’s? The debate is on.

 

A passenger sits in Barcelona’s airport on Tuesday.Credit...Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

The pandemic has turned the world into a giant laboratory of competing systems, each with its own way of fighting the virus and mitigating its economic damage. The contrast between Europe and the United States has been particularly stark.

After the devastating financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the United States recovered much more quickly than Europe, which suffered a double-dip recession. This time, many economists say Europe may have the edge.

Much of Europe resorted to strict lockdowns that mostly beat back the virus but capsized economies. In the United States, President Trump has prioritized getting the economy moving even as infections multiply.

The main reason America did well after the financial crisis was the rapid response of the government and the flexible nature of the American economy, which was quick to fire workers but also to hire them again. Europe, with built-in social insurance, tries to keep workers from layoffs through subsidies to employers, making it harder to fire and more expensive to rehire.

But this is a different kind of collapse, a mandated shutdown in response to a pandemic, driving down both supply and demand simultaneously. And that difference creates the possibility that the European response, freezing the economy in place, might work better this time.

“It’s an important debate,’’ said Jean Pisani-Ferry, a senior economist with Bruegel in Brussels and the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “This isn’t a normal recession, and there’s a lot you don’t know, especially if the virus comes back.’’

 

 

Texas cities are in crisis mode as the state’s caseloads surge.

 

A Houston restaurant was busy with customers Friday after statewide closures were ordered.

A Houston restaurant was busy with customers Friday after statewide closures were ordered.Credit...Erin Trieb for The New York Times

Surging infection rates have thrown Texas cities into crisis mode ahead of the July Fourth weekend. The state has recorded more than 174,000 cases and 2,518 deaths. More than 8,000 new cases were announced across Texas on Wednesday, surpassing the previous daily record set on Tuesday.

With some hospitals near capacity, officials have been forced to bring in health care reinforcements from out of state. Ambulances in Houston have been waiting up to an hour to unload patients at emergency rooms, officials said.

“The cases continue to increase in a manner that we just cannot sustain,” said Dr. Mark Escott, interim medical director of the Austin-Travis County Health Authority. “Cases are skyrocketing across the state of Texas.”

In Galveston, city officials announced the closure of beaches for the July Fourth weekend. Organizers announced the cancellation of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, describing the move as the only “responsible solution.” This year’s South by Southwest, the city’s internationally acclaimed film, music and interactive conference, was canceled in March.

The Texas Republican Executive Committee will meet Thursday night to consider shifting its in-person state convention in July to a virtual event, said the state party chairman, James Dickey. The Texas Medical Association has called for cancellation of the Houston event, which could draw 4,000 to 6,000 delegates.

Texas moved swiftly to reopen, but as cases surged, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” when it comes to the state’s handling of the pandemic.

Mr. Patrick made the comments in an interview with Laura Ingraham, the Fox News host, after Dr. Fauci told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that some states were moving “too quickly and skipping over some of the checkpoints.”

 

 

In other news from around the country:

  •  

Officials rushing to contain a coronavirus cluster tied to a party in a New York City suburb used an unusual legal strategy: issuing subpoenas to partygoers.

  •  

In Pennsylvania, the governor announced Wednesday that the state would require people to wear masks whenever they leave home, effective immediately.

  •  

More than 1,500 new cases were announced Wednesday in Tennessee, a single-day record.

  •  

Congress is investigating about a dozen medical laboratories and emergency rooms for potential virus test price gouging. In a letter sent Wednesday afternoon, the House Energy and Commerce committee asked 11 health care providers, including two laboratories that were the subjects of New York Times articles, to submit information on testing prices.

 

 

As Iran’s hospitals fill with virus patients, its cities are locking back down.

 

Tehran has been declared a red zone.

Tehran has been declared a red zone.Credit...Atta Kenare/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The Iranian government, already struggling under the weight of international sanctions, has been especially reluctant to lock down. Its president once said the economy must remain open because Iran “did not have a second option.”

But on Wednesday, as infections surged, hospitals filled and the death toll climbed, Iranian officials announced new shutdown measures in cities across 11 provinces.

Health ministry officials said eight provinces, including Tehran, the capital, were now considered red zones.

Dr. Alireza Zali, head of Tehran’s virus management committee, told local news media that he had requested a partial shutdown for Tehran that would limit movement, cut back work hours and ban large gatherings like weddings and funerals.

And wearing a mask in public spaces will be mandatory as of next week.

“It’s because of a change in numbers in the past week for people infected, hospitalized and death rates,” Dr. Zali said. Tehran, he reported, has had a nearly 8 percent increase in hospitalization in the past 24 hours.

In April, Iran shut down for several weeks. But the next month, worried about the economy, it lifted restrictions, even though the country had not met any of the benchmarks health experts set out for reopenings, among them a steady decline in the number of new infections or contact and tracing measures.

As the country reopened, many Iranians abandoned measures like wearing masks and social distancing and essentially resumed ordinary life. But cases began to spike after about a month — and they have been steadily increasing since. On average, said the deputy health minister, Iraj Harirchi, one Iranian dies every 10 minutes from Covid-19, and every 35 seconds one contracts the virus.

As of Wednesday, the country had 230,211 confirmed cases and nearly 11,000 deaths.

 

 

Here are other developments from around the globe:

  •  

In Australia, the state of Victoria reported 77 new cases on Thursday, the most so far in an outbreak around Melbourne that has forced 300,000 people back into lockdown.

  •  

Japan reported 125 new cases on Wednesday, as the national caseload approached 19,000. NHK, the national broadcaster, said that there were 107 new infections in Tokyo on Thursday.

  •  

The European Union reopened its borders on Wednesday to visitors from 15 countries, excluding the United States, Russia and Brazil.

  •  

The Hebron region of the West Bank accounts for more than 80 percent of active virus cases in the territory, and the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry reported Wednesday that it had recorded 199 new cases, bringing the number of active cases there to 1,804.

  •  

Spain and Portugal are officially reopening their land border, an event that will be attended by King Felipe VI and the prime ministers of both countries. The border had been closed since mid-March, and Spain reopened its border with France on June 2.

  •  

In Israel, the Health Ministry announced that it recorded 773 cases on Tuesday — the highest daily case count since the virus first emerged in the country.

 

 

A pediatric group has a message: Get children back to school this fall. Here’s why.

 

A closed elementary school in Brooklyn in April.Credit...Kevin Hagen for The New York Times

The American Academy of Pediatrics made a splash this week with advice about reopening schools that appears to be somewhat at odds with what administrators are hearing from some federal and state health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised that remote learning is the safest option. But the academy’s guidelines strongly recommend that students be “physically present in school” as much as possible and emphasize that there are major health, social and educational risks to keeping children at home.

Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatrics infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, helped write the academy’s guidelines. He is a father of two and a survivor of Covid-19 who is still experiencing some symptoms after he and his wife contracted the coronavirus in March.

“I absolutely take this seriously,” Dr. O’Leary said. “I’m still sick.” But he explained why the academy was emphasizing the need to get students back in classrooms.

In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. O’ Leary discussed the importance of physical school, how the academy’s guidance compared with that of the C.D.C., next steps for schools and more.

“Reopening schools is so important for the kids, but really for the entire community,” he said. “So much of our world relies on kids being in school and parents being able to work.”

 

 

Late action on virus prompts fears over safety of U.S. diplomats in Saudi Arabia.

 

Saudi Arabia has reported about 4,000 new cases of coronavirus per day.

Saudi Arabia has reported about 4,000 new cases of coronavirus per day.Credit...Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Inside the sprawling American Embassy compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a coronavirus outbreak was spreading. Dozens of embassy employees became sick last month, and more than 20 others were quarantined after a birthday barbecue became a potential vector for the spread of the disease.

A Sudanese driver for the top diplomats died.

A bleak analysis from within the embassy that circulated in closed channels in Riyadh and Washington late last month likened the coronavirus situation in Saudi Arabia to that of New York City in March, when an outbreak was set to explode.

Some in the embassy even took the extraordinary step of conveying information to Congress outside official channels, saying that they did not believe the State Department’s leadership or the American ambassador to the kingdom, John P. Abizaid, were taking the situation seriously enough, and that most American Embassy employees and their families should be evacuated.

The episode, based on accounts from eight current and one former official, highlights the perils facing American diplomacy with a global pandemic still raging, and the frictions between front-line diplomats, intelligence officers and defense officials on one side and senior Trump administration officials on the other who are eager to preserve relations with nations like Saudi Arabia that have special ties with the Trump White House.

Saudi Arabia has reported about 4,000 new cases of coronavirus per day, among the fastest-growing caseloads in the world. Despite that, the government has ended lockdown measures.

 

 

How the plan to pool virus tests in the U.S. would work.

 

Testing for the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in May. The country reported using batch testing as part of a recent campaign to test all 11 million residents of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.Credit...CHINATOPIX, via Associated Press

The Trump administration plans to adopt a decades-old testing strategy that will vastly increase the number of virus tests performed in the United States and permit widespread tracking of the virus as it surges across the country.

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/world/coronavirus-updates.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-coronavirus-national&variant=show&region=TOP_BANNER&context=storylines_menu

 

 

 

Mexico overtakes Spain in Covid-19 death toll

from CNN's Matt Rivers and Karol Suarez

 

Mexico's coronavirus death toll surpassed Spain's on Wednesday, according to numbers released by the Mexican Health Ministry.

Mexico reported 741 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing its death toll to 28,510. Spain's total number of fatalities stood at 28,364 on Wednesday evening, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally.

Mexico now has the sixth highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the world.

The Mexican health ministry also reported 5,681 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases to 231,770. 

 

 

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in double digits in Victoria, Australia

From CNN’s Angus Watson

 

 

Police check drivers at a roadblock in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday, on July 2.

Police check drivers at a roadblock in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday, on July 2. Daniel Pockett/AAP Image/AP

The Australian state of Victoria recorded 77 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, its 17th consecutive day of double-digit growth in new infections.

The majority of the cases detected on Wednesday were in the 10 "hot zone" suburbs around Melbourne, where 300,000 people have been ordered to stay at home, Victoria's Chief Medical Officer Brett Sutton said Thursday.

Victoria now has 415 active cases, with 20 patients hospitalized and four in intensive care.

All residents in the 10 zones have been encouraged to get tested, regardless of whether they show any symptoms -- and 26,320 tests were conducted on Wednesday.

“There are other infections still to be found out there and they are all a risk of transmitting to others,” Sutton said. “People should be limiting their movement to the fullest extent possible.”

 

 

Cuba will partially reopen its capital on Friday

From CNN's Patrick Oppmann

 

Fishermen wearing protective face masks clean a freshly caught fish while people line up to buy portions of the fish, in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday, June 27. Ismael Francisco/AP

Havana will begin a partial reopening on Friday, Cuban Prime Minister Marrero Cruz said Wednesday night of the country's capital city.

Cuba closed its borders in March, canceling all regular commercial flights to and from the island, and went under a strict lockdown after three Italian tourists were diagnosed with coronavirus.

But recently it began a gradual easing of restrictions as infections dropped.

The reopening in Havana will allow restaurants, bars and other businesses to reopen but with restricted capacity, the prime minister said. Havana residents will also be able to visit the beach for the first time in nearly three months.

However, international travel to and from most of Cuba will remain suspended.

Cuba's main island, where Havana is located, remains closed to international tourists. Visitors will, however, be able to travel to five offshore islands, which the Cuban government has developed for tourism.

As of Wednesday, the country had recorded 86 deaths and 2,348 cases of coronavirus, according to Cuban health officials.

 

 

New Zealand's health minister resigns after series of blunders ... including breaching lockdown

From CNN's Angus Watson and Sol Han

 

New Zealand's embattled Health Minister David Clark has resigned after a series of political blunders -- including breaching his own government's lockdown rules.

Clark has been under fire since April, when he admitted to breaking the country's stay-at-home order to take his family to the beach. 

He had offered his resignation at the time. However Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern did not accept it, saying it could cause a “massive disruption" in the health sector while the country was battling the virus.

Instead, Clark was stripped of his role as associate finance minister and demoted to the bottom of the Cabinet rankings. Last month, he faced another backlash after pinning responsibility for failures at the border on the Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield. 

On Thursday, Clark again tendered his resignation. This time, it was accepted by the Prime Minister.

“It has become increasingly clear to me that my continuation in the role is detracting from the Government's overall response to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic,” Clark wrote in a statement on Facebook.

New Zealand had 22 active Covid-19 cases as of Wednesday, with one in hospital. In total, it has recorded 1,528 confirmed or probable cases and 22 deaths, according to the New Zealand Health Ministry.  

 

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-07-02-20-intl/index.html

 

 

 

Summary

 

· Covid-19 cases have passed 10.6 million across the globe. There are now 10,694,288 cases of coronavirus worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins university tracker, with at least 516,210 deaths.

· Donald Trump has said he believes the coronavirus will “just disappear”, one day after the US recorded more than 44,000 new cases, a new all-time daily high.

· India has now recorded more than 600,000 coronavirus infections, and 17,834 deaths. The country has the fourth largest outbreak in the world, and the increase in infections presents a severe challenge for its overburdened health system.

· Tokyo confirmed more than 100 new coronavirus infection cases on Thursday. The city had initially sought to keep new daily cases below 20, following the lifting of the state of emergency on May 25, but its tally has consistently exceeded 50.

· The World Health Organisation has warned the Middle East is at a “critical threshold” with more than a million cases recorded across 22 countries.

· West Bank has gone into lockdown as virus numbers soar. The Palestinian Authority has announced a five-day lockdown across the West Bank after the total confirmed coronavirus infections in the territory more than doubled following the easing of previous restrictions.

· NZ’s health minister, David Clark, has resigned, after a series of political missteps, and repeated breaches of his own government’s lockdown rules.

· Brazil death toll has passed 60,000. On Wednesday afternoon a coalition of Brazilian news outlets announced that the country’s total death toll had risen by 538 to 60,194, meaning it had doubled in the last month.

That’s all from me, I’m now handing over to my colleague in London, Aamna Mohdin.

 

Source:https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jul/02/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news-new-zealand-health-minister-quits-who-middle-east-us-trump-brazil