WHO reports record daily Covid cases
212,326 new cases recorded globally; Mexico crosses France to become 5th in fatality numbers; Spain orders second lockdown after cases rise
WASHINGTON/ ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organization reported a record single-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 189,077 on June 28. Deaths remained steady at about 5,000 a day.
Global coronavirus cases exceeded 11 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.
Iran and Indonesia reported their deadliest days of the coronavirus pandemic so far as cases continued to climb around the globe.
In Iran, the number of fatalities rose to 163 on Sunday, one more than the previous highest daily toll set a week ago. The death count reached 11,571 from a total of 240,438 known infections, with 2,560 new cases reported overnight.
Indonesia reported 82 deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, the highest single-day spike in fatalities, taking the total to 3,171, the health ministry said. The country with the most infections in Southeast Asia also reported 1,607 news cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 63,749.
Mexico overtook France with the fifth-deadliest outbreak. Deaths in the North American country reached 30,366, while the number of infections rose by a daily record 6,914 to 252,165, according to data from the health ministry. Like in other Latin American countries, Mexican officials have had to balance their response to the virus with consideration for significant groups of people who must work to meet basic daily needs.
Israel is in a state of emergency due to a resurgent coronavirus outbreak, and additional steps are needed to stem the spread, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
The cabinet will reconvene within the coming day to decide on new restrictions.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-addo will isolate for 14 days starting July 4 after being exposed to a Covid-19 case, the information ministry said in a statement late Saturday. He tested negative on that day, it added.
If confirmed, two new suspected cases would end Hong Kong’s three-week stretch of no fresh local infections.
Hong Kong had relaxed socialdistancing measures in midjune, allowing public gatherings of up to 50 people. The city’s government is in talks with Guangdong provincial authorities for a plan to ease cross-border travel restrictions, including lifting the 14-day mandatory quarantine for qualified people.
MAN IN 9/11 PHOTO DIES
A New York electrical engineer photographed in a crowd fleeing the smoking World Trade Center in 2001 died of the coronavirus, the Palm Beach Post reported, citing his family. Stephen Cooper, 78, died on March 28 in Delray Beach, Florida, where he lived part-time. The photograph was widely published and is part of the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York.
2ND LOCKDOWN IN SPAIN
A lockdown has been ordered for a region of Galicia in northwestern Spain, restricting travel in and out of A Marina for about 70,000 residents. The five-day measure was ordered after cases started to rise from two different outbreaks.
Spain put an agricultural region with more than 200,000 residents under indefinite lockdown on Saturday. The number of cases in the Segria region of 210,000 has soared 20% in the past two weeks to 3,312.
Four of nine outbreaks currently being monitored by authorities are associated with companies harvesting and processing fruit and vegetables.
PAK FM HOSPITALISED
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was shifted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on Saturday, a day after he tested positive for the coronavirus and went into self-isolation.
Qureshi on Friday announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Qureshi has been moved to Combined Military Hospital in Rawalpindi, the Geo News reported on Saturday, citing sources.
PUBS OPEN IN BRITAIN
People in England appear to have broadly behaved themselves as pubs reopened this weekend, Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock said on Sunday after the latest step towards a return to normality from the coronavirus lockdown.
Thousands of people flocked to pubs, restaurants and bars around England on Saturday as large parts of the hospitality sector reopened for the first time since March.
Many of the social distancing rules drilled in by ministers at daily televised briefings appeared to go out the window in Soho, where groups of people meandered between pubs and restaurants without a facemask in sight.
“From what I’ve seen, although there’s some pictures to the contrary, very very largely people have acted responsibly,” health minister Matt Hancocktold Sky News.
But the head of Britain’s police federation said he ended up dealing with “naked men, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights and more angry drunks” while on shift.
“What was crystal clear is that drunk people can’t/won’t socially distance,” John Apter told London radio.