The global coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 11.1 million people and claimed over 528,000 lives. Here are updates for July 4:
(AP)
Saturday, July 4
WHO reports record single-day rise in cases
The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Saturday, with the total rising by 212,326 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil and India, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 189,077 on June 28.
Deaths remained steady at about 5,000 a day.
Global coronavirus cases exceeded 11 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than half a million people in seven months.
Over 1,200 recover in Turkey
More than 1,200 people recovered from the novel coronavirus in Turkey over the past 24 hours, the country’s health minister has said.
Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that overall recoveries from the virus now climbed to 179,492 out of 204,610 total cases, meaning there are fewer than 20,000 active cases in Turkey.
The country’s death toll from the coronavirus also rose to 5,206, with 20 new fatalities reported over the last 24 hours.
Florida sees another record spike
Florida’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose by a record 11,458, the state’s health department said, the second time in three days that its caseload increased by more than 10,000.
The new record came a day after seven other states also reported record rises in cases of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that has killed nearly 130,000 Americans.
The recent surge, most pronounced in southern and western states, has alarmed public health officials, who urged caution ahead of a July 4th holiday weekend to celebrate the Declaration of Independence of the United States in 1776.
Florida’s record rise in cases was more than any European country’s daily peak at the height of the outbreak there.
UK’s death toll rises
The United Kingdom’s death toll from confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus has risen by 67 to 44,198 in the last day, the government said on Saturday.
Iran imposes new curbs
Iranians who do not wear masks will be denied state services and workplaces that fail to comply with health protocols will be shut for a week, President Hassan Rouhani has said as he launched new measures to try to curb the coronavirus.
Wearing masks becomes mandatory from Sunday in covered public places, he said.
Iran has been battling the spread of the coronavirus, with the total number of cases hitting 237,878 on Saturday and a further 148 deaths bringing the country’s toll to 11,408, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said on state television.
Jordan slaps wristbands on arriving travellers
Jordan began putting electronic bracelets on travellers who have recently arrived in the kingdom to ensure that they observe home-quarantine against the spread of coronavirus, an official said.
People arriving in Jordan must isolate for 14 days at hotels designated by the authorities on the shores of the Dead Sea, west of the capital Amman. After that period, they must self-isolate for an additional 14 days at home.
The kingdom has so far registered 1,147 coronavirus infections, including only 10 deaths.
Spain’s Catalonia places 200,000 people under lockdown
Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region locked down an area with around 200,000 residents near the town of Lerida following a surge in cases of the new coronavirus.
“We have decided to confine the del Segria zone following data confirming a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections,” Catalonia’s regional president Quim Torra told reporters, adding that no one would be allowed to enter or leave the area.
India coronavirus cases hit record high
India recorded its highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases, with over 22,000 new cases and 442 deaths, as infections rose in the western and southern parts of the country amid heavy monsoon rains.
The western state of Maharashtra, home to the densely packed financial capital Mumbai, has the country’s highest total, recording 6,364 fresh cases of the virus on Saturday and 198 deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
India has the fourth-most confirmed cases in the world, exceeding 640,000, according to health ministry data.
Russia’s cases near 675,000
Russia on Saturday reported 6,632 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the nationwide tally of infections to 674,515.
The authorities said that 168 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 10,027.
Turkey has sent medical aid to Serbia for the second time
Turkey has sent medical aid to Serbia to help the Balkan country combat Covid-19.
The materials prepared by the ministry of health were loaded on the A 400M type giant transport aircraft of the Turkish Armed Forces at the Etimesgut Military Airport. The presidential flag was placed on the aid kits in the plane, which travelled to Serbia’s capital, Belgrade.
Jimmie Johnson 1st NASCAR driver to test positive for virus
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss this weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 44-year-old Johnson is the first driver in any NASCAR series to test positive and the news cast a shadow over the historic NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader races coming up Saturday and Sunday. There was no indication any races would be affected.
Hendrick Motorsports said Johnson will not return until he is cleared by a physician. He was tested earlier Friday after his wife, Chani, tested positive after experiencing allergy-like symptoms.
Johnson is asymptomatic.
Australia’s Victoria reports 108 new cases
Australia’s second most-populous state, Victoria, reported its biggest jump in cases since late March, forcing it to expand stay-at-home orders to two more suburbs and sending nine public housing towers in a complete lockdown.
The southeastern state recorded 108 new cases, up from 66 on Friday and more than 70 new cases in each of the previous four days, forcing authorities to reimpose lockdowns in more than 30 suburbs earlier in the week.
South Africa reports record daily infections
South Africa has announced another record daily number of confirmed cases with 9,064, as Africa’s most developed country shows signs of strain in coping with the pandemic.
Thirty percent of South Africa’s more than 177,000 cases are now in Gauteng province, which contains Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.
More than 2,900 people in the country have died. The African continent overall has more than 433,000 confirmed virus cases.
63 new cases in major cities in South Korea
South Korea has reported 63 new cases of the virus, continuing a weeks-long resurgence as new clusters pop up in various parts of the country.
The figures announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought national totals to 13,030 infections, including 283 deaths.
Twenty-eight of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live. Infections were also reported in major cities such as Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju, where hundreds of schools have been shut and social restrictions elevated.
Twenty-seven cases were linked to international arrivals. South Korea has enforced two-week quarantines on all overseas passengers since April.
Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend coronavirus positive
The girlfriend of President Donald Trump’s eldest son has tested positive for coronavirus, US media reported.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News television personality who is dating Donald Trump Jr, had travelled to South Dakota to see the US president’s Fourth of July speech and celebration fireworks at Mount Rushmore.
Guilfoyle, 51, was immediately isolated after discovering she had the virus in a routine test conducted on anyone expected to come in close contact with the president, the New York Times reported.
In a statement to the newspaper, Sergio Gor, chief of staff to the Trump campaign’s finance committee, said: “She’s doing well, and will be retested to ensure the diagnosis is correct since she’s asymptomatic.”
He added: “As a precaution (she) will cancel all upcoming events. Donald Trump Jr was tested negative, but as a precaution is also self-isolating and is canceling all public events.”
Guilfoyle is the third person close to the US president to return a positive Covid-19 test, US media reported.
Tokyo new infections over 100 for third day, NHK says
Tokyo confirmed about 130 new cases of infections, a third consecutive day with more than 100 new cases, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Cases in Tokyo have risen to a two-month high, driven by the spread of the virus in the capital’s night spots.
Tokyo on Friday reported 124 new cases, up from 107 the day before, partly due to increased testing among night life workers in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro districts.
Germany’s confirmed cases rise by 422 to 196,096
The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 422 to 196,096, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.
The reported death toll rose by 7 to 9,010, the tally showed.
US marks record 57,683 new cases in 24 hours
The US notched 57,683 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed, the third consecutive day with record numbers of new infections.
The Baltimore-based university’s tracker showed the total number of cases since the pandemic reached the US at 2,793,022 as 0030 Saturday GMT.
The university also recorded a further 728 fatalities, bringing the total US death toll to 129,405.
The new record case count came as infections surge in southern and western states, and as the United States – the hardest-hit country in the world in the coronavirus pandemic – heads into the July Fourth holiday weekend.
Brazil surpasses 1.5 million cases
Brazil registered 42,223 additional coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, bringing the total tally to 1,539,081, the second-worst outbreak in the world behind the US.
The number of coronavirus deaths rose by 1,290 to 63,174, according to the ministry.
Mexico registers 6,740 more infections
Mexico’s health ministry reported 6,740 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 654 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 245,251 cases and 29,843 deaths.
The number of new cases was just one less than the record number reported on Thursday.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Afghan president’s top aide dies of Covid-19
Afghanistan’s top presidential aide Yosuf Ghazanfar died of coronavirus on Friday night, an official confirmed.
Ghazanfar, who is also a leading businessman, was unwell for some time, said presidential spokesman Shah Hussein Murtazawi.
Earlier this year, local media reported that many people close to President Ashraf Ghani had tested positive for Covid-19.
These reports were not confirmed publicly by officials.
However, the presidential spokesman confirmed Ghani and the first lady had tested negative for the virus.
The death toll from Covid-19 has hit 807 in Afghanistan, with more than 32,000 cases and above 16,000 recoveries.
WHO urges focus on first wave of coronavirus
The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief says “we need to put up a fight now” during a peak in the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic, rather than focusing on when a second wave might come.
Dr Michael Ryan said the world will be much better at fighting a second wave, if people can learn the lessons of fighting the first wave.
WHO officials emphasized mask-wearing, social distancing, and hygiene by individuals, along with contact-tracing and tracking of cases by health authorities as key strategies to fight the virus. They say governments and individuals should contour their policies and behaviour based on the outbreak’s status in their countries.
Ryan said the world was experiencing a “second peak in the first wave”, a situation in which the virus hasn’t been suppressed enough to quell transmission to end the first one.
Johnson 1st NASCAR driver to test positive
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss this weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 44-year-old Johnson is the first driver in any NASCAR series to test positive and the news Friday evening cast a shadow over the historic NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader races coming up Saturday and Sunday. There was no indication any races would be affected.
Hendrick Motorsports said Johnson will not return until he is cleared by a physician.
He was tested earlier Friday after his wife, Chani, tested positive after experiencing allergy-like symptoms.
Father of MMA star Nurmagomedov dies
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father and former trainer of Russian Mixed Martial Arts star Khabib Nurmagomedov has died at 57 after contracting coronavirus, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced.
The fighter’s father was first hospitalised in April in his native North Caucasus region of Dagestan and was later transferred to a Moscow clinic.
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov trained numerous champions in judo and the Russian martial arts discipline sambo.
He began teaching his son fighting moves from the age of three, Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid reported.
In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a televised meeting with Khabib Nurmagomedov and his father, saying that the fighter did not deserve harsh punishment for a post-fight brawl.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
