#	Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths
	World	13,683,808	+234,349	586,199
1	USA	3,616,827	+71,750	140,144
2	Brazil	1,970,909	+39,705	75,523
3	India	970,169	+32,682	24,929
4	Russia	746,369	+6,422	11,770
5	Peru	337,724	+3,857	12,417
6	Chile	321,205	+1,712	7,186
7	Mexico	311,486	+7,051	36,327
8	South Africa	311,049	+12,757	4,453
9	Spain	304,574	+875	28,413
10	UK	291,911	+538	45,053
11	Iran	264,561	+2,388	13,410
12	Pakistan	255,769	+2,165	5,386
13	Italy	243,506	+162	34,997
14	Saudi Arabia	240,474	+2,671	2,325
15	Turkey	215,940	+947	5,419
16	Germany	201,252	+486	9,148
17	Bangladesh	193,590	+3,533	2,457
18	France	173,304	+416	30,120
19	Colombia	165,169	+5,271	5,814
20	Argentina	111,146	+4,236	2,050
21	Canada	108,829	+343	8,810
22	Qatar	104,983	+450	151
23	Egypt	84,843	+913	4,067
24	Iraq	83,867	+2,110	3,432
25	China	83,611	+6	4,634
26	Indonesia	80,094	+1,522	3,797
27	Sweden	76,492	+125	5,572
28	Ecuador	70,329	+759	5,158
29	Belarus	65,443	+174	480
30	Kazakhstan	63,514	+1,759	375
31	Belgium	62,872	+91	9,788
32	Oman	61,247	+1,679	281
33	Philippines	58,768	+1,310	1,614
34	Kuwait	56,877	+703	399
35	UAE	55,848	+275	335
36	Ukraine	55,607	+836	1,427
37	Netherlands	51,252	+106	6,136
38	Bolivia	50,867	+1,617	1,898
39	Panama	49,243	+1,147	982
40	Dominican Republic	47,671	+1,366	929
41	Portugal	47,426	+375	1,676
42	Singapore	46,878	+249	27
43	Israel	44,188	+1,828	376
44	Poland	38,721	+264	1,594
45	Afghanistan	34,994	+254	1,094
46	Bahrain	34,560	+482	117
47	Nigeria	34,259	+643	760
48	Romania	34,226	+641	1,952
49	Switzerland	33,148	+132	1,968
50	Armenia	33,005	+515	592
51	Guatemala	32,074	+1,202	1,350
52	Honduras	29,106	+527	807
53	Ireland	25,683	+13	1,748
54	Azerbaijan	25,672	+559	326
55	Ghana	25,430	+442	139
56	Japan	22,508	+288	984
57	Algeria	20,770	+554	1,040
58	Moldova	20,040	+332	659
59	Serbia	19,334	+351	429
60	Austria	19,154	+133	710

 

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

 

 

 

As Trump refuses to lead, America tries to save itself

Analysis from CNN's Stephen Collinson

 

President Donald Trump isn't leading America much as its pandemic worsens. But that's not stopping Walmart -- along with Kroger, Kohl's, and city and state leaders and officials -- from making the tough decisions that the President has shirked.

Given Trump's approach, if the country is to exit the building disaster without many more thousands dead, it will fall to governors, mayors, college presidents and school principals, teachers and grocery store managers to execute plans balancing public health with the need for life to go on.

There were growing indications Wednesday that such centers of authority across the country are no longer waiting for cues from an indifferent President whose aggressive opening strategy has been discredited by a tsunami of infections and whose poll numbers are crashing as a result.

Local authorities take action: More school districts -- in Houston and San Francisco, for example -- are defying the President's demand for all kids to go back to class in the fall.

Alabama, perhaps the most pro-Trump state in the nation, introduced mask-wearing requirements for public places on Wednesday. 

After five months, more than 137,000 US deaths and some 3.5 million infections, the country is at another turning point in the most severe national challenge since World War II. More and more states and local leaders, after seeing the result of premature openings that ignored scientific advice, appear to be moving toward the painful steps needed to get the virus under control.

 

 

India reports highest daily jump in new cases so far

From CNN’s Swati Gupta in New Delhi

 

 

A medic collects a sample from a patient for Covid-19 at Gardiner Hospital in Patna, India on July 15. Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times/Getty Images

India reported 32,695 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on Thursday -- the highest one-day jump in cases since the pandemic began.

The ministry also reported 606 new deaths from the virus. 

The new figures raise the national total to 968,876 infections, with 24,915 deaths. Of the total cases, more than 612,000 people have recovered.

More than 12.7 million samples have so far been tested for Covid-19 since the pandemic began, with over 326,00 samples tested Wednesday alone, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

 

 

Two more cases confirmed at US military base in Okinawa, Japan

From Junko Ogura and Kaori Enjoji in Tokyo

 

U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan in Japan's southern island prefecture of Okinawa on June 22, 2020, a day before the 60th anniversary of the enforcement of the revised Japan-U.S. security treaty. (Photo by Kyodo News/Sipa USA) Kyodo News/Sipa USA

Two more coronavirus cases were confirmed at the US Marine Corps' Futenma base in Japan's Okinawa prefecture, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki announced Thursday.

With the new cases, a total of 138 US military personnel and their families have so far been diagnosed with Covid-19 across six US military facilities in Japan since early July. 

A Japanese national in Okinawa has also tested positive for the virus -- the first local case reported since July 8th. The patient is a taxi driver who used to give rides to US military personnel in and off the bases, said Tamaki.

The governor called on Okinawa residents who have had close contact with US military personnel to get tested for the virus as soon as possible. 

 

 

Hong Kong's third wave of cases linked to relaxed restrictions, as experts identify virus mutation

From CNN’s Will Ripley and Anna Kam in Hong Kong, and Sophie Jeong in Seoul

 

Commuters wear face masks on a metro train in Hong Kong on July 15. Anthony Wa

Hong Kong is facing a "third wave" of coronavirus infections, which experts say is linked to the easing of social distancing measures -- and potentially a mutation which could make it more infectious.

For weeks, Hong Kong's case numbers have stayed low in the single digits every day -- even zero sometimes. People had just begun to let down their guard and resume daily activities, with businesses and public spaces reopening, when the third wave hit -- sending case numbers up to several dozen a day.

Eased restrictions: A high number of local cases don't have epidemiological links to other cases -- meaning "we don’t know how these particular cases have acquired the infection," said Professor Leo Poon, the head of the Division of Public Health Laboratory Science of the University of Hong Kong (HKU).

This suggests that the outbreak was caused by the easing of social distancing measures, Poon said.

The danger is especially high in restaurants when people take off their masks and risk cross-infection, said Ivan Hung, chief of HKU's Infectious Diseases Division.

The virus has mutated: The new mutation means that the virus now multiplies at a higher rate, said Gabriel Leung, Dean of Medicine faculty at the HKU, in an radio interview Sunday.

Both Poon and Hung told CNN that the new mutation, located on the protein responsible for the virus attaching to human cells, makes it “more transmissible.” The mutation has made the new version "fitter than the original virus," Poon said.

A previous study about the mutation found it’s more transmissible, but does not appear to make patients any sicker. 

We shouldn't panic: There's still a lot we don't know, said John Nicholls, a clinical professor in pathology at HKU.

For instance, we know the mutation has increased replication in cells by 30% -- but it doesn't necessarily mean the virus is 30% more transmissible. “We need to be cautious about this and do more sequencing to see if the virus in Hong Kong is this ‘mutated’ virus,” Nicholls told CNN.  

 

 

Fauci says he’s "walking a tightrope" as people try to pit him against the president

From CNN's Shelby Lin Erdman

 

 

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, DC on June 30. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The public battle between President Donald Trump's economic and medical advisers has commanded national attention all week, with attempts from the administration to discredit top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.

But Fauci, who has become the lead scientific face of the fight against the pandemic, said he doesn’t like conflict, and doesn’t “like to be pitted against the president.” 

“I’m an apolitical person,” Fauci told CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell in an interview published Wednesday on InStyle.com.

“It’s pretty tough walking a tightrope while trying to get your message out and people are trying to pit you against the president.”

Attacks on Fauci: Unnamed staffers released so-called “opposition research” on the doctor to reporters on Monday, listing perceived errors in Fauci’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Then top white house trade adviser Peter Navarro openly attacked Fauci Tuesday in an op-ed in USA Today, claiming Fauci "has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on."

“It’s very stressful,” Fauci said in the wide-ranging and revealing interview that included his wife bioethicist Dr. Christine Grady.

Relationship with Trump: President Donald Trump has said he has “a very good” relationship with Fauci, who has not met with the president in more than a month.

Fauci, for the most part, agreed with that assessment. 

“You know, it’s complicated. Because in some respects I have a very good relationship with him. During the times that I was seeing him a fair amount, it was quite a collegial relationship. And in many respects, it probably still is, but I don’t see him very much any more,” he said.

 

 

China's economy is growing again. That's good news for the rest of the world

From CNN's Laura He

 

Vendors prepare for the start of the morning retail shift at the Dounan Flower Market in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on July 14. Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images

China's economy is growing again after its worst three-month period in decades -- a sign that could bode well for the global post-coronavirus recovery.

The world's second-largest economy grew 3.2% in the April-to-June period compared a year ago, according to government statistics released on Thursday. That's better than the 2.5% growth that analysts polled by Refinitiv were expecting.

It also means that China averted recession. In the first quarter, the $14 trillion economy shrank 6.8%, the worst plunge for a single quarter on record since China started publishing those figures in 1992. That was also the first time China reported an economic contraction since 1976.

Growth this quarter would confirm that the "post-virus recovery is underway in China, at least one to two quarters ahead of the rest of the world," analysts at ANZ Research wrote in a report published before the GDP figures were announced.

The rebound had been widely expected by analysts. China -- the early epicenter of the outbreak and the first in the world to impose draconian measures to quell the virus -- was also the first major economy to reopen.

 

 

Australia’s Victoria state registers its worst day since the pandemic began

From CNN's Angus Watson in Sydney 

 

The Australian state of Victoria has suffered its worst day since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, with 317 new cases reported within 24 hours, said state officials on Thursday.

Two men in their 80s died due to Covid-19 in the past day, said Premier Daniel Andrews. That brings Victoria’s death toll to 29, and the national toll to 111.

Of the 317 new cases, only 28 were linked to known outbreaks. The remaining 289 cases are still under investigation. 

The number of coronavirus-related patients in Victoria hospitals has risen to 109, with 29 in ICU, Andrews said. 

Meanwhile, the neighboring state of New South Wales recorded 10 new Covid-19 cases, its Health Department announced Thursday. The NSW outbreak has been linked to the Victoria outbreak, with a man having traveled from Melbourne to Sydney in June, then meeting with friends at a pub in July.

 

 

Latin America and the Caribbean top 3.5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 150,000 deaths

 

 

A nurse plays the violin for patients infected with Covid-19 at a hospital in Santiago, Chile, on July 9. Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

Latin American and Caribbean countries have now recorded more than 3.5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 150,000 deaths, according data from Johns Hopkins University.

The 33 countries in the region have reported a total 3,524,908 cases and 150,973 deaths.

The following 33 countries are included in this region:

Brazil, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Panama, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay, Jamaica, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Belize, Saint Lucia, Dominica, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

 

Source：https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-07-16-20-intl/index.html

 

 

 

Beijing Winter Games could be cancelled if Tokyo Games don't happen in 2021

If the postponed Tokyo Olympics do not go ahead next year due to Covid-19 then the 2022 Beijing Winter Games is also likely to be cancelled, according to long-time International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound. Reuters reports:

The Beijing Winter Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 4 to 20, 2022, just six months after the Tokyo Summer Games, which are now set to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, 2021 after being pushed back a year.

Pound, a Canadian lawyer who has served as both an IOC vice-president and head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), also speculated on a range of scenarios, including one where a threat to the Beijing Games is not so much a U.S. boycott, but one where China might consider barring the U.S. from taking part if the country cannot gain control over the virus. He said

That is an extreme supposition. There are all kinds of crazy things that could happen.

 

 

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

• · China’s economy returned to growth in the second quarter, rebounding more strongly than expected from a historic contraction caused by the coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Thursday. Gross domestic product expanded a surprise 3.2% in April-June, the National Bureau of Statistics said. However, retail sales - a key indication of consumer sentiment in the world’s second-largest economy - fell short of expectations, shrinking 1.8% on-year last month.

  · Tokyo is likely to see coronavirus cases exceed 280 on Thursday – a daily record for the Japanese capital – according to the governor, Yuriko Koike. “It’s still incomplete, but I’m hearing that the number will be above 280,” Koike told reporters.

  · In the United States, Dr Anthony Fauci predicted on Wednesday the country would meet its goal of a vaccine by year’s end, he told Reuters in an interview, saying, “I feel good about the projected timetable.” Fauci’s comments came as US cases increased by a world daily record of more than 67,400, taking the total to nearly 3.5 million confirmed infections.

  · California reported a record 11,000 daily cases. California recorded its largest number of coronavirus infections in a single day on Tuesday, amid efforts to halt reopening statewide.The state tallied 11,126 cases, the highest number since the pandemic began. The number of positive cases has increased 3.3% in the past seven days and 47.2% in the past 14 days, according to state data.

  · In Australia, the state of Victoria reported two more deaths and 317 cases on Thursday, the largest daily increase in cases for an Australian state since the start of the pandemic. Two men in their 80s died, bringing the total coronavirus deaths in the state to 29 and upping the national toll to 113. There are 109 people in hospital with 29 in intensive care, with total of 4750 cases since the pandemic began, state premier Daniel Andrews said.

  · Canada’s efforts to flatten the curve have put the country on the brink of zero deaths for the first time since March, but officials see worrying signs of a new spike as provinces lift restrictions.

  · Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has again tested positive for Covid-19, he told reporters on Wednesday in Brasilia, suggesting he has yet to recover from an infection first diagnosed last week, Reuters reports.

  · Ireland’s prime minister, Micheal Martin, said on Wednesday night the government continues to advise against non-essential overseas travel, as he announced that a planned move to “phase 4 reopening” had been postponed to 10 August because the country’s reproduction rate – the number of people infected by a virus carrier – had increased to more than 1.

  · South Africa surpassed 300,000 confirmed coronavirus cases late on Wednesday. The country’s 311,049 cases make up close to half of Africa’s total.

•  

Source：https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jul/16/coronavirus-live-news-fauci-says-us-must-stop-nonsense-south-africa-cases-top-300000