Latest on the worldwide coronavirus spread
MORE than 160,000 people have died from the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, nearly a quarter of the global total, according to a Reuters tally on Friday, as the country debates whether schools are ready to reopen in coming weeks.
* Wearing masks was made compulsory outdoors from yesterday to Aug 30 in parts of Marseilles, France’s second-largest city.
* Norway urged its citizens to avoid all travel abroad, even to countries with few cases, to prevent a resurgence in the virus.
* Poland reported the sixth record daily rise in two weeks, but ruled out a new nationwide lockdown.
* The number of new infections in France rose by 2,288, a new post-lockdown high, the health ministry said.
* Norway urged its citizens to avoid travel abroad, even to countries with few cases.
* Switzerland signed an agreement with Moderna to secure early access to the vaccine under development.
* Congressional Democrats offered to reduce a proposed coronavirus aid package by US$1 trillion (RM4 trillion) if Republicans would add a trillion to their counter-offer, but President Donald Trump’s negotiators turned them down as more talks ended without a deal.
* The US Senate’s No.2 Democrat said President Donald Trump could not solve the need for coronavirus relief using his executive authority, one day after talks between the White House and congressional Democrats appeared to stall.
* The US State Department urged citizens not to travel to Mexico despite easing a global travel ban.
* Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree that will set aside US$356mil (RM1.4bil) in funds to purchase and eventually produce the potential vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University researchers.
* Mexico’s energy secretary, Rocio Nahle, said she was quarantining for two weeks because she had been in contact with a person who tested positive for Covid-19.
* The US State Department urged citizens not to travel to Mexico despite easing a global travel ban.
* Russia has offered to supply a coronavirus vaccine to the Philippines or team up with a local firm to mass produce it, as infections in the South-East Asian nation surge.
* Hong Kong will offer free voluntary testing for residents as it races to contain a resurgence of the virus.
* Japan will buy 120 million doses of AstraZeneca’s experimental vaccine from early next year.
* Uganda has recorded a 10% rise in the number of people in jail since March, a prison official said, with thousands jailed for alleged violations of lockdown rules.
* Africa’s confirmed cases have surpassed one million, a Reuters tally showed.
* An approved coronavirus vaccine could end up being effective only 50-60% of the time, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, said.
* Pfizer Inc signed a multi-year agreement to make Covid-19 treatment remdesivir for developer Gilead Sciences Inc.
* The United States will need to have independent experts review Covid-19 vaccine candidates before approval, the country’s top drug regulator said.
* Takeda Pharmaceutical will manufacture and sell up to 250 million doses of Novavax Inc’s vaccine candidate in Japan every year.