Trump appears with mask in public as Covid-19 rages
GIVING IN Never been against masks, says US president as he visits hospital
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump wore a mask in public during a visit to a military hospital Saturday, falling in line with the recommendations of his public health officials and experts as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to rage in the United States.
He appeared at the Walter Reed military hospital just outs i de Washington DC i n t he adjoining state Maryland donning a navy blue mask with the golden presidential seal emblazoned on the left . “I’ve never been against masks, but I do believe they have a time and a place,” he told reporters earlier.
Infections in the US climbed to 3.24 million, with 66,627 new cases, and fatalities went up to 134,740 with 802 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The US had federally introduced the use of masks, or any facial covering, in early April as a recommendation. But states such as New York made masks mandatory in public places.
Trump’s top public health officials such as Covid task force members Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx began recommending it urgently, along with social distancing measures, as the best bet to slow the spread.
US states battling with the new s urge i n i nf e c t i ons — deaths have been declining — are embracing masks more urgently than earlier. Texas, a Republican-ruled state, made masks mandatory in the first week of July and Arizona — also Republican-ruled state — has left it to its mayors to decide.
Louisiana, a Democratic-governed state, also in the grip of the new surge, made masks mandatory on Saturday.
BOLSONARO SPENDS A WEEK WITH COVID-19 After months in which Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed Covid-19 by flouting social distancing recommendations and mostly shunning masks , b o t h p r e c a u t i o n s became part of his cloistered life this week at the official residence in capital Brasilia.
Bolsonaro, 65, announced on Tuesday that he tested positive. He s c r a p p e d a t r i p he had planned to northeastern Piauí state, and all his meetings for the week were converted to v i d e o c a l l s . One was wi t h former congressman Roberto Jefferson, president of the conservative PTB party. Jefferson went to the presidential Planalto Palace and sat in front of a large television where he could see Bolsonaro in a makeshift office at his residence. “I only saw him cough once, when I made a joke,” he said.
Since his diagnosis, Bolsonaro has held virtual meetings almost every day with Jorge Oliveira, secretary-general of government, to sign official documents. According to Oliveira’s office, a protocol was created so work could be carried out digitally. This was also how Bolsonaro interviewed candidates to head the education ministry, he said on Facebook on Thursday.
Only a few aides who were previously infected by the new coronavirus could get close to Bolsonaro during the week, one of them said on Tuesday. Bolsonaro also spent some time in the afternoons in front of the palace with photojournalists 400 yards away, on the other side of a garden. He had met his supporters by that garden until his diagnosis, but no longer.
TAIWAN IS SLOWLY ALLOWING BIG CROWDS Actors and others lined up for photo shoots with no social distancing, and participants didn’t wear masks in historic Zhongshan Hall in Taipei. Taiwan, with a population of about 23 million people, has had 451 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
A baseball game in the city of Taichung on Saturday drew more than 10,000 fans for the first time this season.
VICTORIA: 3-DIGIT RISE IN CASES FOR 6TH DAY Australia’s worst-hit Victoria state reported 273 new cases on Sunday, the sixth straight-day of triple-digit increases. State Premier Daniel Andrews said a man in his 70s died overnight, bringing Australia’s death toll to 108, including 24 in Victoria, which currently has 1,484 active cases.
SUZHOU/BEIJING: Chinese vaccine developer Cansino Biologics is in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia to launch a Phase III trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, its co-founder said on Saturday.
China’s success in driving down Covid-19 infections has made it harder to conduct largescale vaccine trials, and so far only a few countries have agreed to work with it.
“We are contacting Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia (for the Phase III trial) and it’s still in discussion,” Qiu Dongxu, executive director and co-founder of Cansino, told an anti-viral drug development conference in Suzhou.
The company plans to recruit 40,000 participants for the tests. Its Covid-19 candidate Ad5-ncov became the first in China to move into human testing in March but is running behind other potential vaccines i n t e r ms of t r i al progress. Two experimental vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) are already approved for Phase III trials.
Qiu said its Phase II trials involving 508 people have yielded “much better” results than Phase I about the vaccines safety and abili t y to trigger i mmune response. He said its new factory under construction in China will allow it to produce 100-200 million doses per year by early 2021.