The latest on the worldwide spread of Covid-19

GERMANY has issued Covid-19 warnings for Belgium and much of France, while a study showed that the prevalence of infections in England is much higher than August-end, but there are signs that the growth in infection rate is slowing.

Europe

> British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is seeking to avoid a complete national lockdown to prevent unemployment soaring into the millions, Environment Secretary George Eustice said yesterday.

> Russia confirmed its highest daily tally of new cases since June 12 yesterday as authorities reported 8,945 new infections, pushing the national total to 1,185,231.

> Slovakia had 797 new cases on Wednesday, a record daily tally for a second straight day, Prime Minister Igor Matovic said on his Facebook page yesterday.

> Poland saw a record number of new daily infections yesterday, with the Health Ministry announcing 1,967 new cases.

> Hungary will extend its border closures to fight the spread of the pandemic until the end of October, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Cabinet chief said yesterday.

> Germany declared regions in 11 European countries to be areas where there was an elevated risk of exposure, while existing warnings about parts of Belgium were extended to cover the entire country.

Americas

> Mexico’s confirmed cases rose to 743,216 on Wednesday, according to updated data from the health ministry, along with a total reported death toll of 77,646.

> Cuba said on Wednesday it was lifting a curfew and partial lockdown in Havana, in place since Sept 1 to contain a second wave.

> US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made progress on Covid-19 relief legislation, and the House of Representatives postponed a vote on a US$2.2 trillion (RM9.1 trillion) Democratic Covid-19 plan to allow more time for a bipartisan deal to come together.

Asia-Pacific

> India’s tally of Covid-19 infections increased by 86,821 in the last 24 hours to 6.31 million by yesterday morning and Middle East and Africa

> South Africa ministers said they would not allow tourists from countries with higher infection and death rates, including Britain, the United States and France, enter after its borders opened up yesterday.

> The United Arab Emirates saw its highest daily total of infections since the start of the outbreak with 1,100 new cases.

Medical developments

> The US Food and Drug Administration has broadened its probe of a serious illness in AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine study and will look at data from earlier trials developed by the same scientists.