WHO: COVID-19 EASING PACE IN MOST REGIONS
GENEVA: The coronavirus pandemic is still raging worldwide, but fresh World Health Organization (WHO) data indicates its pace is easing in most regions, with the biggest slowdown seen in the hard-hit Americas, but no improvement in Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.
More than 1.7 million new cases and some 39,000 new deaths were recorded last week, the WHO said, representing a 5% fall in new infections globally and a 12% drop in new deaths compared to a week earlier.
Africa’s coronavirus outbreak may have passed its peak, the WHO’s continental chief Matshidiso Moeti said, with the daily numbers of cases being reported overall in the region going down.
Africa has recorded nearly 1.2 million cases and at least 28,000 deaths since the virus arrived on the continent on February 14.
AstraZeneca has started a trial of a drug designed to both prevent infection and treat people with Covid-19, with the first volunteers receiving doses and results expected by the end of this year.
Also, Australian researchers are planning to start human trials of a coronavirus antibody therapy in early 2021.
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez said the army will be deployed to help regional governments fight a rise in infections.
The government will make 2,000 soldiers available to the regions, which are responsible for health care, to assist them in tracking cases.
American Airlines warned it will lay off around 19,000 workers on October 1 after federal aid expires unless lawmakers vote to give US carriers more money.
Lebanon’s tourism businesses say they will from Wednesday defy a newly reinstated lockdown that has compounded the country’s economic crisis.