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Coronavirus: latest global developments
PARIS, Sept 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:
– India into second place –
India overtakes Brazil as the country with the second highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, even as key metro train lines re-open as part of efforts to boost its battered economy.
Infections have now risen above 4.2 million, surpassing Brazil’s total of 4.12 million and making India’s tally the second-highest behind the United States’ 6.25 million.
– Nearly 890,000 dead –
The pandemic has killed at least 889,498 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year, according to an AFP count at 1100 GMT on Monday based on official sources.
The countries which have registered the most new deaths in their latest tolls are Ecuador with 3,800, India (1,016) and Brazil (447).
Europe is also seeing a spike in cases, notably in Britain, France and Spain.
– Tokyo Olympics ‘will take place’ –
The postponed Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus pandemic, IOC vice president John Coates tells AFP in an exclusive interview, calling them the “Games that conquered Covid”.
“It will take place with or without Covid. The Games will start on July 23 next year,” says Coates, who heads the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination Commission for the Tokyo Games.
– China shows off vaccines –
China puts its homegrown coronavirus vaccines on display for the first time at a Beijing trade fair this week.
The vaccine candidates produced by Chinese companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm are seeking approval after all-important phase 3 trials as early as year-end.
– Hong Kongers shun virus tests –
Only 1.15 million people in Hong Kong have signed up since mass testing began last Tuesday out of a city population of some 7.5 million, amid wariness at the China-backed scheme.
That figure is well below the 4-5 million leading health experts say will be needed for a mass testing scheme to be effective at finding and stopping hidden transmission chains.
– Morocco locks down Casablanca –
Morocco imposes a lockdown on its commercial capital Casablanca and shuts its schools, the day they were supposed to reopen after summer, in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19.
The new measures, which include restrictions on movement and a night-time curfew, will be in place for two weeks, in the city which has accounted for 42 percent of a record 2,234 new infections on Sunday.
– Emirates refunds $1.4 billion –
Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, says it has so far returned $1.4 billion in refunds to customers amid sharply reduced global travel due to the pandemic.
It said the refunds represented 90 percent of its backlog.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1810 hrs