Bolsonaro tests positive for virus; US starts WHO pullout
762 new cases in Kuwait, 2 deaths • WHO acknowledges evidence of airborne spread
RIO DE JANEIRO/KUWAIT: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has consistently downplayed the risks of coronavirus, announced Tuesday he has tested positive, as the United States - the nation hardest hit by the pandemic - formally launched its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO). The UN health agency meanwhile acknowledged that there was “emerging evidence” of airborne transmission of COVID-19, which has infected nearly 11.7 million people around the globe and caused more than 539,000 deaths.
Kuwait’s health ministry yesterday announced 762 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total to 52,007 cases. Deaths reached 379 with the addition of two fatalities. Official spokesperson of the ministry Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said in a press statement that the 762 infections included 501 Kuwaitis and 261 non-Kuwaitis. Earlier, the health ministry announced the recovery of 593 people from the coronavirus, bringing the tally to 42,108 recoveries.
Bolsonaro, who said he had experienced only mild symptoms, has ignored containment measures such as social distancing, despite Brazil being the secondworst hit country, with more than 66,000 dead. The far-right leader, who at 65 is in the highest-risk age category, insisted he was feeling “perfectly well” and took off his face mask during a TV interview announcing his test results. He repeated his mantra that the “collateral effects” of the virus should not be worse than the illness itself.
In Washington, a senior US official said the United States had informed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of its intention to leave the WHO, effective July 6, 2021. President Donald Trump has been critical of the WHO’s pandemic response, accusing it of bias toward China and ignoring early signs of human-to-human transmission of the deadly virus.
The US is the largest financial contributor to the WHO - which leads the fight on global maladies from polio and measles to mental health - providing $400 million annually. Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Tuesday he would immediately reverse the decision and keep the US in the WHO if he defeats Trump in November.
Experts are still struggling to understand COVID-19, and the WHO said it was open to new research after scientists lobbied for it to stress that the virus can spread through the air farther and for longer than initially believed. WHO said it would put out a new scientific brief within days, after an international group of scientists concluded the virus could travel far beyond two meters.
On Monday, a group of 239 international scientists said exhaled droplets under five micrometers in size that contain the virus can become suspended in the air for
several hours and travel up to tens of meters. Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead on infection control, told a virtual press conference: “We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field.”
“We wanted them to acknowledge the evidence,” said Jose Jimenez, a chemist at the University of Colorado who signed the open letter to WHO. He said historically, there has been a fierce opposition in the medical profession to the notion of aerosol transmission, and the bar for proof has been set very high. A key concern has been a fear of panic. “If people hear airborne, healthcare workers will refuse to go to the hospital,” he said. Or people will buy up all the highly protective N95 respirator masks, “and there will be none left for developing countries.”
There have been explosions of infections across the world, including Iran, which announced 200 new deaths on Tuesday. Australia on Tuesday ordered five million people locked down in Melbourne, its second-biggest city, to combat a surge in cases. Cases are also surging in India and four new coronavirus field hospitals were opened on Tuesday in the financial capital Mumbai as the nationwide death toll jumped past 20,000. Italy’s health minister ordered a one-week suspension of flights to Rome from Bangladesh on Tuesday, after 21 passengers arriving from Dhaka tested positive, adding to the number of cases within the Bangladeshi community in the Lazio region surrounding Rome. — Agencies