Country,	Total	New	Total
Other	Cases	Cases	Deaths
World	24,051,170	248,166	822,728
USA	5,955,728	40,098	182,404
Brazil	3,674,176	46,959	116,666
India	3,231,754	66,873	59,612
Russia	966,189	4,696	16,568
South Africa	613,017	1,567	13,308
Peru	607,382	6,944	28,001
Mexico	563,705	3,541	60,800
Colombia	562,128	10,432	17,889
Spain	423,224	2,415	28,924
Chile	400,985	1,417	10,958
Iran	363,363	2,213	20,901
Argentina	359,638	8,771	7,563
UK	327,798	1,184	41,449
Saudi Arabia	309,768	1,114	3,722
Bangladesh	299,628	2,545	4,028
Pakistan	293,711	450	6,255
Turkey	261,194	1,502	6,163
Italy	261,174	876	35,445
France	248,158	3,304	30,544
Germany	237,572	1,455	9,345
Iraq	211,947	3,962	6,596
Philippines	197,164	2,965	3,038
Indonesia	157,859	2,447	6,858
Canada	125,969	322	9,090
Qatar	117,498	232	194
Bolivia	110,148	999	4,578
Ecuador	109,030	741	6,368
Ukraine	108,415	1,658	2,318
Israel	106,460	1,988	859
Kazakhstan	104,902	184	1,523
Egypt	97,619	141	5,298
Dominican	92,217	609	1,585
Panama	88,381	896	1,919
Sweden	86,891	170	5,814
China	84,981	14	4,634
Oman	84,652	143	642
Belgium	82,092	156	9,996
Kuwait	81,573	613	519
Romania	80,390	1,060	3,367
Belarus	70,727	82	652
Guatemala	69,651	1,118	2,630
UAE	67,621	339	377
Netherlands	67,543	415	6,207
Japan	63,121	614	1,196
Poland	63,073	763	1,977
Singapore	56,435	31	27
Portugal	55,912	192	1,805
Honduras	55,479	968	1,683
Morocco	54,528	1,276	955
Nigeria	52,800	252	1,007
Bahrain	50,076	357	186
Ghana	43,717	95	270
Ethiopia	43,688	1,545	709
Kyrgyzstan	43,245	119	1,057
Armenia	42,936	111	858
Algeria	42,228	370	1,456
Venezuela	41,158	820	343
Uzbekistan	39,641	293	284
Azerbaijan	35,559	133	521
Costa Rica	35,305	842	376
Moldova	34,358	530	960
Nepal	33,533	855	164
Kenya	32,803	246	559
Serbia	30,820	106	705
Ireland	28,201	85	1,777
Austria	25,706	211	733
Australia	25,053	137	525
El Salvador	24,986	175	678
Czechia	22,548	367	416
Palestine	19,678	465	133
Cameroon	18,973	211	410
S. Korea	17,945	280	310
Ivory Coast	17,562	56	114
Denmark	16,480	83	623
Bulgaria	15,589	203	572
Madagascar	14,475	73	178
Paraguay	14,228	626	231
North Macedonia	13,799	126	573
Lebanon	13,687	532	138
Senegal	13,056	43	274
Sudan	12,974	71	819
Zambia	11,285	137	282
Libya	11,281	272	203
Norway	10,454	59	264
DRC	9,891	49	251
Malaysia	9,285	11	125
Greece	8,987	168	243
French Guiana	8,904	29	56
Albania	8,759	154	259
Croatia	8,530	219	175
Tajikistan	8,379	33	67
Finland	7,981	43	335
Luxembourg	7,838	44	124
Maldives	7,047	135	28
Mauritania	6,960	32	158
Zimbabwe	6,196	126	166
Namibia	6,160	130	57
Malawi	5,423	4	170
Hungary	5,215	24	614
Hong Kong	4,711	19	77
CAR	4,691	12	61
Nicaragua	4,494	183	137
Montenegro	4,444	66	87
Eswatini	4,327	23	86
Cuba	3,744	27	91
Suriname	3,698	66	61
Slovakia	3,452	28	33
Thailand	3,402	5	58
Slovenia	2,686	21	133
New Zealand	1,690	7	22
Aruba	1,670	42	8
Cyprus	1,474	14	20
Vietnam	1,029	7	27

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

More than 1,300 healthcare workers have died from Covid-19 in Mexico

From journalist Karol Suarez in Mexico City

 

More than 1,300 healthcare workers have died from coronavirus in Mexico since the start of the pandemic, the country's Health Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The ministry also reported 4,916 new Covid-19 cases Tuesday, bringing the total number confirmed in the country to 568,621. 

A further 650 fatalities were also confirmed, taking the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the country to 61,450, including 1,320 healthcare workers. 

Mexico is braced for an uptick in cases: On Monday, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said the country should expect to see a marked increase in new daily cases after widening the criteria for detecting Covid-19 from suspected cases. 

Starting Tuesday, patients will only have to report one Covid-19 symptom in order to be identified as a suspected case, López-Gatell said. New symptoms added to the criteria include loss of smell, loss of taste and diarrhea. 

 

 

Brazilian government approves Doctors Without Borders medical assistance to Indigenous people

From CNN's Rodrigo Pedroso in São Paulo

 

Brazil's federal government agency has approved the humanitarian non-profit Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to enter indigenous communities and assist with the coronavirus surge there.

The approval came Monday for select MSF teams to enter seven Terena people villages of the Aquidauana region, in the midwestern Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, according to the official Brazilian gazette. 

Some context: Last week, the indigenous association reported that the government didn’t give permission for the MSF teams to enter Terena's villages, where more than 6,000 people live, according to the organization.

The agency said that the plan presented by the organization needed to be evaluated in order to not interfere with their own work.

Covid has devastated Indigenous communities: By early August, more than 22,000 Brazilian indigenous people had been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and at least 631 had died from it, according to indigenous group APIB. But due to limited testing, the real toll could be higher.

The deaths included prominent indigenous leader Chief Aritana Yawalapiti of the Upper Xingu territory.

These indigenous communities are often far from hospitals, in areas which often lack basic infrastructure. Those who move to towns or cities can end up in precarious living conditions with few public services, increasing their vulnerability to health issues.

 

 

Fauci: We "certainly don’t know the whole story" about Covid-19 

From CNN's Amanda Watts

 

Dr. Anthony Fauci said because Covid-19 is such a new disease, we "certainly don’t know the whole story." 

"I think we learned the lesson that I think we should have known from our experience with other outbreaks -- is that when you're dealing with a work in progress, things change," Fauci said during an interview with the Infectious Diseases Society of America released Tuesday.

The interview was recorded last week, before Fauci’s vocal cord surgery. 

We are still “learning things in real time,” Fauci said.

"And you've got to keep an open mind -- that you certainly don't know the whole story -- in the first or the second or the third or even the fourth month," he added.

Even today, we’re learning about Covid-19’s transmissibility, asymptomatic transmissibility and the long-range, chronic residual effects, Fauci said.

“As scientists and public health officials, we need to be humbled to realize that any given moment, there may be a lot that we still do not know,” he said.

 

 

World’s fastest man Usain Bolt tests positive for coronavirus

From CNN’s Ravi Ubha and Aleks Klosok in London

 

Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates during a lap of honour following finishing in third place in the mens 100m final during day two of the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships London 2017 at The London Stadium on August 5, 2017. Michael Steele/Getty Images

Usain Bolt has tested positive for the coronavirus, and the government in his native Jamaica says the fastest man on the planet won’t be spared punishment if he broke the rules stemming from a party held for his 34th birthday on Friday, according to Jamaica’s Health minister.

“It is now public knowledge that Mr. Bolt has been tested positive,” Dr. Christopher Tufton, the Jamaican Minister of Health and Wellness, said in a virtual news conference on Monday.

“He has been formally notified -- I’m told -- by the authorities and in keeping with standard protocols once there is a positive case, irrespective of the individual, it triggers an approach to questioning, interrogation if you will, which would then follow through with contact tracing.” Tufton said.

Ricky Simms, Bolt’s agent, confirmed his positive test to CNN.

“The Covid test was positive, but Usain is not showing any symptoms,” he wrote to CNN in an email.

Bolt, the world-record holder in the 100m and 200m and an eight-time Olympic gold medalist, had posted a video on social media earlier Monday prior to the test results.

He had been given the test on Saturday, he said, and wasn’t showing any symptoms. He intended to quarantine and urged those who had been around him to also isolate.

“I did a test on Saturday because I have work,” Bolt said. “I'm trying to be responsible so I'm going to stay in and stay in for my friends. Also, I’m having no symptoms.”

“I'm going to quarantine myself and wait to see what the protocol is … Until then … I'm quarantined by myself and just taking it easy. Be safe out there.”

Restrictions on transport and airlines are expected to lift in October, officials said.

 

Retrieved from:  https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-08-26-20-intl/index.html

 

 

 

 

COVID-19 lockdowns blocked flu in some places but fall looms

By ANDREW MELDRUM, MOGOMOTSI MAGOME and LAURAN NEERGAARD

 

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Winter is ending in the Southern Hemisphere and country after country -- South Africa, Australia, Argentina -- had a surprise: Their steps against COVID-19 also apparently blocked the flu.

But there’s no guarantee the Northern Hemisphere will avoid twin epidemics as its own flu season looms while the coronavirus still rages.

“This could be one of the worst seasons we’ve had from a public health perspective with COVID and flu coming together. But it also could be one of the best flu seasons we’ve had,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press.

 

U.S. health officials are pushing Americans to get vaccinated against the flu in record numbers this fall, so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed with a dueling “twindemic.”

It’s also becoming clear that wearing masks, avoiding crowds and keeping your distance are protections that are “not specific for COVID. They’re going to work for any respiratory virus,” Redfield said.

The evidence: Ordinarily, South Africa sees widespread influenza during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter months of May through August. This year, testing tracked by the country’s National Institute of Communicable Diseases is finding almost none — something unprecedented.

School closures, limited public gatherings and calls to wear masks and wash hands have “knocked down the flu,” said Dr. Cheryl Cohen, head of the institute’s respiratory program.

That not only meant lives saved from flu’s annual toll, but it “freed up our hospitals’ capacity to treat COVID-19 patients,” Cohen added.

In Australia, the national health department reported just 36 laboratory-confirmed flu-associated deaths from January to mid-August, compared to more than 480 during the same period last year.

“The most likely and the biggest contributor is social distancing,” said Dr. Robert Booy, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Sydney.

The coronavirus is blamed for about 24 million infections and more than 810,000 deaths globally in just the first eight months of this year. A normal flu year could have the world’s hospitals dealing with several million more severe illnesses on top of the COVID-19 crush.

Back in February and March, as the worldwide spread of the new virus was just being recognized, many countries throughout the Southern Hemisphere girded for a double whammy. Even as they locked down to fight the coronavirus, they made a huge push for more last-minute flu vaccinations.

“We gave many more flu vaccinations, like four times more,” said Jaco Havenga, a pharmacist who works at Mays Chemist, a pharmacy in a Johannesburg suburb.

Some countries’ lockdowns were more effective than others at stemming spread of the coronavirus. So why would flu have dropped even if COVID-19 still was on the rise?

“Clearly the vigilance required to be successful against COVID is really high,” said CDC’s Redfield. “This virus is one of the most infectious viruses that we’ve seen.”

That’s in part because 40% of people with COVID-19 show no symptoms yet can spread infection, he said.

Flu hasn’t disappeared, cautions a World Health Organization report earlier this month. While “globally, influenza activity was reported at lower levels than expected for this time of year,” it found sporadic cases are being reported.

Plus, some people who had the flu in Southern countries might just have hunkered down at home and not seen a doctor as the coronavirus was widespread, WHO added.

But international influenza experts say keeping schools closed — children typically drive flu’s spread — and strict mask and distancing rules clearly helped.

“We don’t have definitive proof, but the logical explanation is what they’re doing to try to control the spread of (the coronavirus) is actually doing a really, really good job against the flu as well,” said Richard Webby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who is part of a WHO committee that tracks flu evolution.

In contrast, the U.S. and Europe didn’t impose coronavirus rules nearly as restrictive as some of their Southern neighbors — and in many cases are reopening schools and relaxing distancing rules even as COVID-19 still is spreading and the cooler months that favor influenza’s spread are fast approaching.

So the U.S. CDC is urging record flu vaccinations, preferably by October. Redfield’s goal is for at least 65% of adults to be vaccinated; usually only about half are.

The U.S. expects more than 190 million doses of flu vaccine, about 20 million more than last year. States are being encouraged to try drive-thru flu shots and other creative ideas to get people vaccinated while avoiding crowds.

In an unusual move, Massachusetts has mandated flu vaccination for all students — from elementary to college — this year. Typically only some health care workers face employment mandates for flu vaccine.

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson likewise is urging widespread flu vaccination.

To be clear, the flu vaccine only protects against influenza — it won’t lessen the chances of getting the coronavirus. Vaccines against COVID-19 still are experimental and several candidates are entering final testing to see if they really work.

But for coronavirus protection, Redfield continues to stress vigilance about wearing masks, keeping your distance, avoiding crowds and washing your hands.

“Once one stops those mitigation steps, it only takes a couple weeks for these viral pathogens to get back on the path that they were on,” he said.

While the U.S. has been mask-resistant, most states now have some type of mask requirement, either through statewide orders issued by governors or from city and county rules.

Meanwhile, countries where flu season is ending are watching to see if the Northern Hemisphere heeds their lessons learned.

“It could be very scary — we honestly don’t know. But if you’re going to get the two infections at the same time, you could be in big trouble,” said Booy, the Sydney infectious diseases expert.

 

Retrieved from: https://apnews.com/16c5e8f7bcdf06feee506e8836d82e19

 

 

 

Lebanon shop owners plan to reopen despite coronavirus lockdown

Business owners say they cannot afford to remain closed amid prolonged crisis worsened by pandemic and port explosion.

by Arwa Ibrahim

 

While most shops in Beirut have been closed, some remained partly open during the lockdown [Arwa Ibrahim/Al Jazeera]

 

Beirut, Lebanon - Merchants and business owners in Lebanon plan to defy a coronavirus lockdown, saying they can no longer afford to keep their shops shut amid a deepening economic crisis that has plunged more than half of the population into poverty.

"We will not be able to keep our stores closed for another day due to the terrible economic situation," said Nicolas Chammas, chairman of the Beirut Traders Association, which on Monday requested the Ministry of Interior to allow the return of commercial business activity from Wednesday.

"We asked the government to weigh the economic costs as it did the health risks," Chammas told Al Jazeera.

Also on Tuesday, Tony Rami, head of the syndicate of restaurant, cafe and club owners, announced that they too would defy the lockdown order.

"We will not close our doors after today, nor will we pay a single penny before there is a new country that knows how to invest our money," he said in a televised news conference.

"Civil disobedience has become an acquired and legitimate right. Our losses are estimated at $1bn," he added.

Starting on August 21, Lebanese authorities imposed a 17-day lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic after the number of confirmed infections spiked in the wake of a massive explosion that ripped through Beirut on August 4.

To date, Lebanon has officially registered 13,255 COVID-19 cases and 126 related deaths. 

Authorities have also enforced a daily curfew from 6pm to 6am and banned all social events, with bars, restaurants, nightclubs and gyms ordered to remain closed.

However, the airport, grocery stores and pharmacies have been allowed to operate while aid and relief work in areas affected by the explosion - which killed some 200 people, wounded thousands and left about 300,000 homeless - have been exempt from the coronavirus-related restrictions.

Chammas said the introduction of exemptions had left merchants and traders feeling that the lockdown order had "punished" a sector struggling with currency depreciation and steep inflation among others.

The devastating explosion at Beirut port has only sunk the country deeper into a state of instability - but the prolonged and deteriorating economic crisis had already taken a heavy toll on the Lebanese.

"Estimates reveal that more than 55 percent of the country's population is now trapped in poverty and struggling for bare necessities," the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia said last week.

 

Retrieved from: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/lebanon-shop-owners-plan-reopen-coronavirus-lockdown-200825124108253.html

 

 

 

 

A summary of coronavirus developments today:

Global cases have surged passed 23.8m, with more than 818,000 deaths from the virus.

· Rates of transmission are easing in many parts of the world, the World Health Organisation has suggested. Governments have been ramping up efforts to contain the disease, which has claimed the lives of almost 814,000 people and infected at least 23 million since late last year. WHO data said fatality and infection rates were easing in most regions, notably in the hard-hit Americas, except Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.

· Residents in the capital of Xinjiang are being forced to take traditional Chinese medicine, being handcuffed to buildings and ordered to stay inside for weeks as part of a harsh range of measures to tackle coronavirus, according to posts online. Urumqi, the capital of the semi-autonomous region known for its draconian security measures, has been in a “wartime state” of lockdown for more than a month after a cluster of cases emerged in July, when the outbreak had been mostly contained elsewhere in China.

· South Korea has ordered doctors in Seoul to return to work on Wednesday as they began a three-day strike in protest against several government proposals, including one to boost the number of doctors to deal with health crises like the coronavirus. Trainee doctors have been staging ongoing walkouts, and thousands of additional doctors were due to stage a three-day strike starting on Wednesday. South Korea is battling one of its worst outbreaks of the coronavirus, with 320 new cases reported in the 24 hours to midnight Tuesday.

· UK prime minister Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools. Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in schools after prime minister Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before students head back to the classroom.

· The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling. About 43,000 new cases are being reported daily across the country, down 21% from early August, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Experts credit the development at least partly to increased wearing of masks, even as the outbreak continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the US each day.

· Turkey recorded its highest number of new coronavirus cases since mid-June. Another 1,502 infections were confirmed on Tuesday, according to government data, taking the official tally over 261,000.

· India reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases globally for the 18th straight day. Infections rocketed by another 1.5 million since the start of August, taking India’s total to around 3.1 million, more than in the US and Brazil. The rate of new cases in the country is increasing rapidly, climbing by 60,975 in the latest 24-hour period, according to the federal health ministry.

· Gaza entered a 48-hour lockdown after the first cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the general population. Four cases of coronavirus were confirmed in a single family in a refugee camp, the first in Gaza that did not involve people quarantined in border facilities after crossing over from Egypt and Israel. Health authorities in the Hamas Islamist-run territory of 2 million people are concerned over the potentially disastrous combination of poverty, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital facilities in dealing with an outbreak.

· Two European patients were confirmed to have been reinfected with coronavirus, raising concerns about immunity. Regional public broadcasters said a patient in the Netherlands and another in Belgium had also been reinfected. It follows a report this week by researchers in Hong Kong about a man there who had been reinfected four and a half months after recovering.

· The German economy contracted by a record 9.7% in the second quarter, the sharpest decline since Germany began to record quarterly GDP calculations in 1970. The government has extended by a year, a scheme topping up the pay of workers who have lost hours because of the pandemic.

Retrieved from:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/26/coronavirus-live-news-who-signals-slowing-of-infections-but-india-cases-still-soaring?page=with:block-5f45ec158f08f9fdc758e462#block-5f45ec158f08f9fdc758e462