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HEALTH-VIRUS-WORLD FACTS
Coronavirus: latest global developments
PARIS, June 17, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Here are the latest developments in
the coronavirus crisis.
– India: 2,000 deaths daily –
India’s official death toll leaps by more than 2,000 in 24 hours.
Authorities say the sharp increase in fatalities to 11,903 is mainly
due to Mumbai and Delhi updating their figures.
Germany urges its nationals in India to consider leaving for their
own safety while France warns its citizens in New Delhi to stay home
unless going to an airport to return to Europe.
– Beijing battles new outbreak –
China closes schools in Beijing and restricts air travel from the
capital — cancelling more than 1,200 flights — to halt an outbreak
linked to the capital’s largest wholesale food market.
It reports 31 more cases, taking the total to 137 in the past six days.
– WHO hails ‘breakthrough’ –
The World Health Organization hails as a “lifesaving scientific
breakthrough” the British use of a basic steroid to treat severely ill
COVID-19 patients, saving about a third of them.
“This is great news and I congratulate the Government of the UK,
the University of Oxford, and the many hospitals and patients in the
UK who have contributed to this lifesaving scientific breakthrough,”
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says.
– More than 440,000 deaths –
The pandemic has killed at least 443,821 people worldwide since it
surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1100
GMT on Wednesday, based on official sources.
The United States has the most deaths with 116,963 followed by
Brazil with 45,241, Britain with 41,969, Italy with 34,405 and France
with 29,547 fatalities.
– Brazil cases surge –
Brazil records its highest daily jump in new cases, with nearly
35,000 registered in 24 hours, the health ministry says.
The grim new record comes as the WHO’s top official for the
Americas again voices concern over the situation in Brazil.
“Brazil has 23 percent of all cases and 21 percent of all deaths in
our region. And we are not seeing transmission slowing down,” Carissa
Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, tells a
news conference.
– Germany eyes big events ban –
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is seeking to ban
large events until at least the end of October, according to an
official draft policy document seen by AFP.
If agreed on by state premiers, the ban could affect shows such as
the Frankfurt book fair.
– Honduras president –
The president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, becomes the
latest public figure to test positive for the virus. He tells
journalists his symptoms are mild and he will work from home. His wife
has also tested positive and she is asymptomatic.
– Putin’s ‘disinfection tunnel’ –
Officials in Russia say visitors meeting Russian President Vladimir
Putin at his country residence must first pass through a walk-through
device that sprays them with disinfectant.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov tells reporters that two of
the machines have also been installed in the Kremlin.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1940hrs