Saudi health minister calls for global task force to fight virus
G20 officials in new ‘virtual’ talks Saudi COVID-19 cases pass 9,000
Global organizations must produce a coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic with an emphasis on supporting countries in need, the
Saudi health minister said on Sunday.
Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah was speaking at a “virtual” meeting of G20 health ministers under the Saudi presidency, to discuss new measures to confront the outbreak.
He called for the creation of a global task force to respond to pandemics, an innovation hub for knowledge sharing to improve value in health, and a patient safety leaders group to provide shared platforms aimed at reducing patient safety risks. Saudi Arabia reported 1,088 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the total to 9,362, and the death toll rose by 5 to 97. Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly said more than 180,000 people had now been tested for the virus. Worldwide, nearly 2.4 million people have been infected, and the death toll is nearing 165,000. The European Center for Disease Control said the continent now had more than 1 million confirmed cases and almost 100,000 deaths. Spain had the most cases in the region with 191,726, followed by Italy, Germany, Britain and France. It listed Italy as having the most deaths in Europe, with 23,660, followed by Spain, France, Britain and Belgium. Europe now accounts for almost half the global case load and more than half the total deaths.
Italy on Sunday registered the lowest number of deaths in a month, with the death toll rising by 433 in 24 hours. That brings the national total to 23,660, still the second-highest in the world after the US.
Paris shut down part of its water system after discovering trace amounts of the virus in water used for cleaning streets and watering public gardens.
A municipal water management laboratory discovered “tiny traces” of the virus at 4 of 27 sampling points in the city’s network for non-drinking water The non-drinking water is pumped in from the Seine and an adjacent canal, and is used for street cleaning, watering parks and in some city fountains. All Paris parks, gardens and fountains are closed as part of France’s anti-virus lockdown.
In the US, the death toll in New York dropped again, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo said meant the state was “on the other side of the plateau” and that social distancing practices were working to stem the spread of the virus.
But Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio maintained their warnings that people in New York city and the rest of the state needed to stay vigilant.
De Blasio accused President Donald Trump of betraying his fellow New Yorkers by failing to push for billions of dollars in additional federal aid needed to help the city deal with the coronavirus economic crisis.
INSIDE
•Support
for Buraidah families •KSA
completes 180,000 tests •Lebanese
cases decline •Singers
spread gratitude •Lombardy,
Veneto still badly hit •Sri
Lanka to ease lockdown •Iran
regime bankrolling terror •Tehran
to face more protests •Cultural
changes likely •Wuhan
football team resilient