Country,	Total	New	Total
Other	Cases	Cases	Deaths
World	22,850,287	267,794	796,378
USA	5,746,272	45,341	177,424
Brazil	3,505,097	44,684	112,423
India	2,904,329	68,507	54,975
Russia	942,106	4,785	16,099
South Africa	599,940	3,880	12,618
Peru	567,059	8,639	27,034
Mexico	537,031	5,792	58,481
Colombia	513,719	11,541	16,183
Spain	404,229	3,349	28,813
Chile	391,849	1,812	10,671
Iran	352,558	2,279	20,264
UK	322,280	1,182	41,403
Argentina	320,884	8,225	6,517
Saudi Arabia	303,973	1,287	3,548
Pakistan	290,958	513	6,209
Bangladesh	287,959	2,868	3,822
Italy	256,118	840	35,418
Turkey	254,520	1,412	6,058
Germany	231,284	1,584	9,324
France	229,814	4,771	30,480
Iraq	192,797	3,995	6,208
Philippines	178,022	4,339	2,883
Indonesia	147,211	2,266	6,418
Canada	123,873	383	9,054
Qatar	116,224	268	193
Ecuador	105,508	1,033	6,200
Bolivia	105,050	2,031	4,233
Kazakhstan	103,815	244	1,415
Israel	99,599	1,630	795
Ukraine	98,537	2,134	2,184
Egypt	97,025	111	5,212
Dominican Republic	89,010	883	1,505
Sweden	85,810	399	5,805
China	84,895	7	4,634
Panama	83,855	101	1,844
Oman	83,769	163	609
Belgium	79,479	582	9,969
Kuwait	78,767	622	509
Romania	74,963	1,346	3,154
Belarus	69,950	149	627
Guatemala	65,983	1,102	2,506
UAE	65,802	461	369
Netherlands	65,054	529	6,191
Poland	59,378	767	1,925
Japan	58,501	951	1,144
Singapore	56,099	68	27
Portugal	54,992	291	1,788
Honduras	52,298	628	1,608
Nigeria	50,964	476	992
Bahrain	48,303	353	179
Morocco	47,638	1,325	775
Ghana	43,260	166	261
Kyrgyzstan	42,507	182	1,498
Armenia	42,319	263	836
Algeria	40,258	411	1,411
Switzerland	39,026	266	1,998
Venezuela	37,567	699	311
Uzbekistan	37,547	435	252
Ethiopia	35,836	1,778	620
Azerbaijan	34,759	139	510
Moldova	31,937	522	921
Kenya	31,441	426	516
Costa Rica	31,075	666	333
Serbia	30,209	161	689
Nepal	29,645	707	126
Ireland	27,676	129	1,776
Austria	24,431	347	729
Australia	24,236	243	463
El Salvador	23,964	247	640
Czechia	21,045	247	406
Cameroon	18,762	138	408
Palestine	17,989	383	120
Ivory Coast	17,249	17	112
S. Korea	16,346	288	307
Denmark	16,056	116	621
Bulgaria	14,962	142	532
Madagascar	14,154	80	177
North Macedonia	13,194	118	554
Sudan	12,582	36	812
Senegal	12,559	113	261
Paraguay	11,817	684	170
Lebanon	10,952	605	113
Zambia	10,372	154	274
Norway	10,197	35	264
DRC	9,757	16	247
Libya	9,707	244	173
Malaysia	9,240	5	125
Guinea	8,876	84	53
French Guiana	8,743	32	54
Tajikistan	8,203	37	66
Haiti	7,997	48	196
Albania	7,967	155	238
Greece	7,934	250	235
Finland	7,842	37	334
Luxembourg	7,637	71	124
Croatia	7,329	255	168
Mauritania	6,848	19	158
Maldives	6,370	145	24
Zimbabwe	5,745	102	151
Malawi	5,282	42	165
Hungary	5,046	44	609
Namibia	4,912	247	41
Hong Kong	4,605	18	73
Montenegro	4,229	55	81
Eswatini	4,110	52	81
Cuba	3,565	83	88
Thailand	3,389	7	58
Cabo Verde	3,368	47	37
Suriname	3,366	71	55
Slovakia	3,102	80	33
Sri Lanka	2,918	16	11
Slovenia	2,536	43	129
Estonia	2,227	20	63
Iceland	2,040	5	10
New Zealand	1,654	5	22
Malta	1,510	40	9
Cyprus	1,395	10	20
Aruba	1,387	91	6
Georgia	1,370	9	17
Latvia	1,327	1	33
Vietnam	1,007	13	25

 

Retrieved from:  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

 

 

 

Quarantine hotel security staff given no protective training before outbreak, inquiry hears

 

Medical professionals perform coronavirus testing at a drive-through clinic on August 21, in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

An inquiry in Australia into Victoria state's hotel quarantine system following a fresh coronavirus outbreak that's infected thousands of people heard today that security guards at the hotels were given little to no training.

Firefighter Luke Ashford said that he signed up as an an authorized officer after he received an email from the government requesting help with monitoring the quarantine hotels.

But apart from some brief online training on how to use the government's Covid-19 app, Ashford said he received no major help preparing for his job as an authorized officer.

Ashford told the inquiry he received no training in infection control, in how to properly apply protective gear, or even what his job would be.

"There was really no level of detail so as to provide instruction on how I should perform my role with regard to how the program operated or even what my role was," Ashford said.

The inquiry is ongoing.

 

 

South Korea records more than 300 new daily cases for the first time since March

From CNN's Jake Kwon and Gawon Bae in Seoul 

A medical worker take samples from a police officer during the Covid-19 testing at a temporary test facility on August 19, in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

South Korea recorded 315 new local cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip said today, marking the first time the country has identified more than 300 new daily cases since March 8.

The country has now seen new infections in the triple digits for eight consecutive days, with infections reported in every province except for Jeju island, according to the Health Ministry.

To date, 739 people related to the Sarang-jeil Church have tested positive as of Thursday evening, Kim said. The church has been at the center of the new outbreak in South Korea.

Using cellular network logs, the government said it had tracked down and instructed 15,000 people who visited a massive weekend rally against the government in Seoul on August 15 to get tested immediately.

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-21-20-intl/index.html

 

 

Coronavirus deaths should begin to drop soon, CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Maggie Fox

 

EMS medics from the Houston Fire Department try to save the life of a nursing home resident in cardiac arrest on August 12, 2020 in Houston, Texas. Heart failure, especially in seniors, is a common result of Covid-19 and medics treat most such cases as if they are Covid-positive. John Moore/Getty Images

Coronavirus deaths should start dropping around parts of the United States by next week, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday, because people are doing more to control the virus by social distancing, staying out of crowds, wearing masks and washing hands.

“Interventions are going to have a lag of three or four weeks,” Redfield said in an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“You and I are going to see the cases continue to drop. And then hopefully this week and next week, you’re going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop again.” 

But Redfield said not every region is improving. “There’s a warning sign … Middle America right now is getting stuck,” he said. “We don’t need to have a third wave in the heartland.”

States have to stick with the interventions meant to slow the spread of the virus, Redfield said. 

According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 5.5 million people in the US have been diagnosed with coronavirus and more than 174,000 have died, although Redfield has said testing has likely caught only about one in 10 cases.

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-20-20-intl/index.html

 

 

Up to 60 million Americans may have been infected with coronavirus, CDC director says

From CNN Health’s Shelby Lin Erdman

 

As many as 60 million Americans could have been infected with coronavirus, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Robert Redfield told the Journal of the American Medical Association Thursday.

The CDC released a report in June, published in JAMA, showing an infection rate in the United States of about 10%. Redfield said at the time he believed testing had missed 90% or more of cases. 

Redfield said Thursday an infection rate of between 10-20% translates into as many as 60 million people who may have already been infected, but there’s not really any good data on the numbers yet.

“We’re in the process of obviously following up with the report that we did in JAMA that kind of let us understand that maybe for the 2 million cases we diagnosed, we had an estimated 20 million people infected,” Redfield said in the video interview.

“We've now expanded that throughout the country, so very large surveillance work in progress,” he said.

Redfield said he didn’t want to speculate on the number of Americans who may actually be infected with the virus, but he did offer an estimate.

“I really want to be data driven but there is enormous geographic variation. I can tell you that we have some areas that we're looking at less than 1% and we have other areas we're looking at 20%,” he said.

“I think if you're going to do a crude estimate, somewhere between 30 and 60 million people -- but let's let the data come out and see what the data shows.”

Confirmed cases: As of Thursday night, at least 5,573,501 coronavirus cases have been recorded across the US, according to Johns Hopkins University. The total includes at least 174,248 deaths.

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-20-20-intl/index.html

 

 

 

Mexico reports more than 6,700 coronavirus cases

From CNN's Karol Suarez in Mexico City

 

A paramedic prepares to move a patient suspected of having the novel coronavirus, at the Covid-19 triage area of the General Hospital in Mexico City on August, 20.   Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images

Mexico reported at least 6,775 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total to approximately 543,806. 

The health ministry also reported at least 625 new deaths yesterday, bringing the total number of fatalities in the country to approximately 59,106 since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Some context: Mexico has the third-highest number of deaths from coronavirus in the world following only the US and Brazil, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Mexico is ranked third in Latin America by Johns Hopkins in terms of its number of total coronavirus cases, behind only Brazil and Peru. 

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-20-20-intl/index.html

 

 

NIH director presses scientists to move quickly on Covid-19 antibody therapies: "Lives are at stake"

From CNN's Jen Christensen

 

A medical worker at Magen David Adoms Blood Services collects blood samples donated by recovered novel coronavirus patients for plasma extraction, contributing to Israel's new experimental antibodies treatment, in Sheba Medical Center Hospital near Tel Aviv, on June 1. Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images/FILE

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, encouraged scientists to work on Covid-19 antibody treatments with the same urgency he has already seen the community bring to research during this pandemic. 

“Keep pressing forward. Everything we’re talking about now really matters. Lives are at stake,” Collins said. “The world is waiting.” 

Collins’ focus in an online discussion Thursday was on the latest science behind monoclonal antibody treatments and convalescent plasma. Both are under investigation in a variety of clinical trials to treat and possible prevent Covid-19.

With monoclonal antibody treatments, scientists clone antibodies that they think will be most effective at fighting a disease and put that into a treatment.

Eli Lilly Inc., whose treatment uses one potent antibody, is currently putting its antibody treatment through a few late-stage human trials. Regeneron Inc. uses two antibodies in the treatment it’s testing in late-stage trials. Several other companies’ antibody treatments are in earlier stages of development.

In the discussion Thursday, scientists presented evidence that they think these treatments will not cause antibody-dependent enhancement – where a treatment makes a disease worse. Collins said the government will be monitoring the trials closely to see if the problem develops or if there is any evidence of viral resistance to the treatments. 

A cocktail approach reduces the risk of a treatment becoming ineffective if the virus were to mutate, studies have shown. Some companies have been reluctant to use more than one antibody in a treatment because it may slow the manufacturing process. 

Collins said if the treatment was well-designed, that may not be as much of an issue.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, therapeutic lead for Operation Warp Speed, said the government is committed to making sure these therapies work in head-to-head clinical trials.

“We hope to be testing the efficacy of a number of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies and possibly other types, so perhaps polyclonal antibodies in parallel, in randomized clinical trials,” Woodcock said. “This provides, I think, a tremendous opportunity.”

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-20-20-intl/index.html

 

 

France's COVID-19 infections again hit new post-lockdown peak

The Associated Press · Posted: Aug 19, 2020 8:02 PM ET | Last Updated: August 20

 

Mounted police officers patrol a street in Paris on Wednesday. The French government is trying to contain growing coronavirus infections but avoid shutting down the economy. (Michel Euler/The Associated Press)

 

France registered 3,776 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, marking another post-lockdown peak and bringing the total to 225,043, but President Emmanuel Macron again ruled out imposing another national lockdown.

"All the indicators keep going up, and the transmission of the virus is getting stronger among all ages groups affected, young adults in particular," the Health Ministry said in a statement.

It said the virus was especially active in and around Paris and Marseille, France's two biggest cities.

Some medical experts are worried about the impact of Paris Saint-Germain fans' wild, mask-less celebrations on the Champs-Élysées in central Paris after their soccer club reached the Champions League final on Tuesday.

Paris municipal officials are also concerned about large gatherings of fans expected on Sunday, when Paris Saint-Germain will play the final either against Olympique Lyonnais, another French club, or Germany's Bayern Munich.

 

Paris Saint-Germain fans celebrate after their Champions League semifinal match against RB Leipzig in central Paris on Tuesday. Some medical experts are worried about the impact of the wild, widely mask-less celebrations. (Charles Platiau/Reuters)

 

Despite the surge in infections, Macron told Paris Match magazine in an interview that "local strategies" were preferable to another national lockdown, which he said would cause considerable "collateral damage."

France's Labour Ministry announced on Tuesday that it is making wearing a mask compulsory in the vast majority of workplaces from Sept. 1 to try to stop a resurgence of the pandemic. It also said that working from home would remain its recommended option for employees. 

Mask-wearing is compulsory nationwide on all public transit and in most indoor public spaces, such as shops and museums, as well as in crowded outdoor areas in some cities.

 

The seven-day moving average of the case tally, which smooths out daily reporting irregularities, is now at 2,621, above the 2,500 threshold for the first time since April 19, when France was enforcing one of Europe's strictest lockdowns.

The number of people in hospital fell again by 17 to 4,806, and those in intensive care slipped by six to 374, reflecting the preponderance of younger people among the new cases who are more likely to be asymptomatic or not fall seriously ill.

Both numbers had been on an uninterrupted downward trend since early April, but that trend has slowed in the past two weeks.

The number of deaths increased by 17 to 30,468, following an increase of 22 on Tuesday and of 19 on Monday.

Retrieved from:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/coronavirus-covid19-world-aug-19-1.5691694