According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed cases globally is approaching 11.6 million, while the number of deaths has surpassed 537,000.
The US tops the global coronavirus tally with more than 2.9 confirmed cases, including over 130,000 fatalities.
India has overtaken Russia to have the third-highest number of people who have contracted the virus in the world, reporting 697,413 total cases.
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The death toll has risen by 8 in the past 24 hours, according to the institute.
EL PASO (Sputnik) - The state of Texas has reported another all-time high 8,698 hospitalisations due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The number of hospitalizations in the state has increased by 274 percent since 15 June, which was the last day the rate of increase was stable and there were only 2,326 hospitalisations, the state health agency reported on Monday.
Texas currently has 200,557 cases of COVID-19 and 2,655 deaths caused by the disease, the state health agency reported.
The number of coronavirus cases in Texas began to increase substantially after Governor Greg Abbott decided to gradually reopen the economy when he let stay-at-home orders expire on 1 May. On Thursday, Abbott issued an executive order requiring state residents to wear a face-covering in public spaces in an effort to try to slow the spread of the disease.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The death toll from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Brazil increased by 620 over the past 24 hours to 65,487, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.
The case tally grew by 20,229 to 1,623,284, the ministry said.
The day before, the death count was up 602 and the number of confirmed cases increased by 26,000.
A total of 927,292 people have recovered from COVID-19 since the disease outbreak started.
"Twenty-four patients have died in Moscow, all of them had confirmed pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus infection", the Russian capital's coronavirus response centre said on Monday.
The centre called on Moscow residents to abstain from leaving home if showing any symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections, and also warned against self-therapy.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The global COVID-19 case count rose on Monday by 202,545 to 11.3 million, while the death toll reached 528,204.
The UN health agency said in a new situation report that 4,134 fatalities were registered in the preceding day.
Americas and Europe continue to lead the count with over 5.8 million and almost 2.8 million cases, respectively.
The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March.
ATHENS (Sputnik) - The acute increase in the number of tourists infected with the coronavirus in Greece accounts for the overwhelming majority of newly detected cases, the Greek National Public Health Organization (NPHO) said on Monday.
Over the past three days, the dynamics of imported cases in Greece went from 13 out of total 28 on Friday to eight among 25 on Saturday and to seven among nine on Sunday.
Of 43 cases confirmed in Greece over the past day, 36 were detected during border control procedures of foreign arrivals, the NPHO said.
The cumulative number of cases in Greece has now grown to 3,562 and the death toll has remained unchanged at 192 people, according to the statement.
Among active cases, 11 patients remain in the intensive care units, while 120 people have been discharged from hospitals from the day before.
Early on Monday, the ban on Greece-bound arrivals from Serbia went into effect.
SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
States around the United States are now shutting down bars again hoping to flatten the curve of COVID-19 transmissions over the summer to make it safe for schools to reopen in the fall, The Hill newspaper reported on Sunday.
Last week, the United States reported a record surge in the number of COVID-19 cases reported.
The United States has reported 2,886,267 of COVID-19 so far, including 129,811 fatalities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta said on Monday.
BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - Argentina has received the first batch of remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has shown to be safe and effective for treating COVID-19 patients, the TN broadcaster reported on Monday, adding that it would be used in 10 hospitals across the country.
According to the media outlet, all of the medical facilities are part of the Solidarity Trial project, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has been conducting since March. The trials involve more than 4,500 patients from around the world.
The chief scientist of the WHO, Soumya Swaminathan, said earlier in the day that trials of remdesivir would continue for two more months, however, the UN health agency cannot definitively recommend the drug as effective against COVID-19 yet.
Countries can publish their own emergency recommendations but WHO does not have any official recommendation on the drug, as remdesivir does not appear to lower the fatality rate, according to Swaminathan.
Argentina has so far registered 77,815 COVID-19 cases, 1,523 deaths and 28,531 recoveries.
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - Belgium will not lift restrictions on travel for residents of non-EU countries from a list published by the Council of the European Union, media reported on Monday.
Last Tuesday, the council recommended lifting travel restrictions, imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19, for residents of 14 countries starting July 1. China was not on the list but its residents were also recommended to be allowed to enter pending confirmation of reciprocity.
Le Soir newspaper learned on Monday that Belgian officials decided not to lift the travel restrictions at a cabinet meeting and the details of the decision will be released by the Foreign Ministry.
A source told the newspaper that nine of the listed countries were still in the so-called red zone while another five did not allow entry for European travellers, either completely, or partially.
In mid-March, EU countries agreed to ban unnecessary travel for citizens of third countries while also limiting movement within the bloc amid the global pandemic. The restrictions on movement inside the union have been gradually lifted since June.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The city of Miami closed restaurants, gyms and other entertainment facilities with an emergency order prompted by a surge in novel coronavirus cases following an ill-fated effort to re-open the state, Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a press release on Monday.
"We are still tracking the spike in the number of cases involving 18- to 34-year-olds that began in mid-June, which the County’s medical experts say was caused by a number of factors, including young people going to congested places - indoors and outside - without taking precautions such as wearing masks and practising social distancing," Gimenez said.
Graduation parties, gatherings at restaurants that turned into packed parties in violation of the rules and street protests where people could not maintain social distancing and where not everyone was wearing facial coverings, contributed to a spike that set new records for novel coronavirus infections, the release said.
Florida Department of Health on Monday reported 206,447 novel coronavirus cases, an increase of 6,336 cases from the day before.
In late April, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis moved to aggressively re-open Florida by allowing bars, beaches, restaurants, movie theatres and other entertainment venues to reopen when new cases dropped below 1,700 daily, according to media reports.
Broadway actor Nick Cordero died on 5 July at the age of 41 after being hospitalized for three months with COVID-19, media reports say.
He reportedly had no underlying health conditions but had suffered from a number of complications from the coronavirus infection.
His wife, Amanda Kloots, paid her last respects to her husband in an Instagram post.
The New York Governor Cuomo has also called on Trump not to be 'co-conspirator' of COVID-19 and acknowledge that coronavirus is a major threat.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The COVID-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 130,000, with the number of documented cases nearing 2.9 million, Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center data showed on Monday.
Health officials in the country have documented 130,007 fatalities and 2,897,613 cases overall, according to the data.
The United States is leading the world in the number of reported COVID-19 deaths and confirmed cases. There are nearly 11.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and more than 535,000 deaths, according to the data.
DAMASCUS (Sputnik) – The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Syria rose to 372 after the country’s health officials registered 14 more cases of the infection over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
According to the ministry, the death toll has increased by one to 14.
The tally of recoveries now stands at 126.
The first COVID-19 case was registered in Syria on March 22 in an individual who returned from abroad. The pandemic has significantly complicated the situation in the already war-torn country and affected its fragile health care system due to new challenges, including restrictions on movement, border closures and a critical shortage of medical protective equipment for staff and volunteers.
According to the United Nations, Syria is facing "an unprecedented hunger crisis" amid the pandemic. The UN is concerned that the COVID-19 crisis can be devastating for the population, which is not provided with "social welfare safety net and has insufficient personal protective equipment."
In late April, the Syrian authorities eased some anti-coronavirus measures, lifting a ban on domestic travel and allowing shops and markets to reopen.
On May 31, the government permitted the public sector, as well as cultural and tourism agencies, to resume activities.
However, Syria's air and seaports, as well as land borders, are still closed amid the pandemic.
The Health Ministry of Syria's neighboring Iraq announced on Monday that it has registered 1,796 new cases of COVID-19 over the past 24 hours. The total count of cases now stands at 62,275. The highest number among the new cases – 360 – was registered in the province of Baghdad, including the capital city.
The tally of recoveries has grown by 1,724 to 34,741, while the death toll has increased by 94 to 2,567 over the past day.
A total of 612,607 tests have been conducted in Iraq since the start of the pandemic.
TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iran has registered 160 new COVID-19 fatalities over the past 24 hours, which brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 11,731, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said during an Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) broadcast on Monday.
On Sunday, the authorities registered 163 victims of the infection, which is the country's new record daily death toll.
According to the spokeswoman, the country has registered over 2,613 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total toll rising to 243,051. Meanwhile, 204,083 COVID-19 patients have recovered since the beginning of the outbreak.
Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told Russia's Rossiya 24 TV channel about his country's successes in warding off the disease.
"Luckily, our medical [and] research centers have performed enormous and successful work. In the beginning, we had issues with both medical masks, and artificial lung ventilation equipment, and now we are even ready to supply medical masks to other countries," Jalali said.
He also expressed gratitude on behalf of his government for Moscow's assistance in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak.
"The people and the authorities of Russia have shown their solidarity with the people and the government of Iran. And we also grateful for the assistance rendered to us [by Russia] in the fight against the coronavirus," the ambassador added.
Since June 14, Iran has been registering more than 100 deaths per day in what many have dubbed a second wave of the virus. The surge took place after daily cases started to climb again in early June following the opening of mosques and restaurants. Since June 11, Iran has been registering 2,200-2,700 COVID-19 cases a day on average.
Since July 5, face-covering has become mandatory in all public places in Iran amid a surge in the coronavirus cases.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Adults in the United States who report using a facemask to cope with the novel coronavirus pandemic at least once in the past week rose to an all-time high, albeit with about a quarter also reporting reluctance to cover their faces in public, a new Gallup poll revealed on Monday.
"A record-high 86 percent of US adults… have worn a mask in public in the past week [although] about a quarter report a fairly lax approach to mask-wearing, saying they "sometimes, ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ wear one, compared with 7 percent who said the same when the nation was at its most vigilant in early April," a press release explaining the poll said.
In addition, a 54 percent majority say they worry about people in their area not adhering to social distancing guidelines - topping 50 percent for the first time in Gallup polling throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic, the release said.
"Wearing a face covering when out in public has been a politically charged issue since President Donald Trump said in early April that he would not wear a mask despite the guidance from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control]," the release said.
Trump generally refuses to wear a mask in public, although he was photographed at least once with a face covering during a visit to a Ford Auto plant in May.
Nearly all Democrats (98 percent) report using face masks compared with 66 percent of Republicans - with the 32-percentage point gap also a new record in Gallup's polling on the novel coronavirus. Eighty-five percent of independent voters also say they have worn a mask in public in the past week, the release said.
A casual observation reveals that face mask use drops sharply in rural areas distant from Washington, DC, with about half of shoppers mask-less inside supermarkets, big box retailers and small convenience markets, compared with nearly everyone shopping with covered faces in the nation’s capital and close-in suburbs.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Moscow Region Health Ministry told Sputnik on Monday that 26 leading doctors were sent to Kazakhstan to help local specialists contain the spread of the COVID-19 infection.
"Doctors in the Moscow Region proved to be real professionals during the coronavirus epidemic. It was mostly thanks to them that the situation with the coronavirus infection in the region improved. Our specialists are ready to share their experience, so we responded to our Kazakh colleagues' request and sent anesthetists, infectiologists, pulmonologists and epidemiologists to help treat COVID-19 patients," Moscow Region Health Minister Svetlana Strigunkova said, as quoted by the ministry's press service.
Kazakhstan introduced on Saturday a two-week COVID-19 quarantine amid a surge in coronavirus cases. The state commission in charge of the COVID-19 response has banned sports and public events, and closed beauty salons, museums and fitness centers. Public transport will be limited, however, air traffic between the regions will continue.
Kazakhstan has so far registered 45,719 COVID-19 cases, 188 deaths and more than 15,000 recoveries.
The restrictions can be extended by 14 weeks or toughened, depending on the development of the epidemiological situation in the country.
The government of Israel has decided to immediately close bars, night clubs, gyms and event halls as part of measures to fight the spread of COVID-19 infections following a recent spike in cases, according to Israel Radio.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Banks in the United Kingdom are preparing a code of conduct for businesses that default on government loans that were issued to help firms amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, The Guardian newspaper reports on Monday.
Industry lobby group UK Finance and the British Business Bank, which is owned by the government, are said to be preparing the debt collection regulations in advance of payments being due, the newspaper said, adding that the terms will likely be more lenient than for normal loans.
“That’s really important so that customers get fair treatment and equal treatment,” a banking official told the newspaper.
Loans issued to businesses as part of the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) and bounce-back loan scheme (BBLS) have a 12-month repayment-free period, the newspaper said. While the BBLS loans were issued with a 100 percent government guarantee if the client defaults, the CBILS loans only have an 80 percent guarantee.
In early June, industry experts warned that businesses will struggle to repay nearly $45 billion of government loans awarded during the coronavirus disease outbreak.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced the loan schemes to help businesses stay afloat throughout the ongoing epidemiological crisis.
As of Sunday, 285,416 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the United Kingdom since the start of the outbreak, with 516 of those having been reported in the preceding 24 hours.
More than 30,000 positive tests were removed from the UK's case total this past Thursday as public health officials revised the previous figures, removing duplicate tests.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) -Russia has recorded 6,611 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, which brings the cumulative total to 687, 862, the response centre said Monday.
The new cases were registered in all 85 regions, 1,907 of the 6,611 show no symptoms.
Moscow had 685 cases recorded, the highest daily count in Russia, followed by 292 cases in the Moscow region, 289 in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, and 280 in St. Petersburg.
In the last 24 hours, 3,579 people have been discharged from the hospital. The total of recoveries has reached 454,329. Over the same 24 hours, 135 people died, with the cumulative death toll reaching 10,296 people.
Moscow shows the slowest rate of increase in new cases at 0.3 percent and is followed by the Moscow region, North Ossetia and Ingushetia with 0.5 percent.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Following a sharp rise in the COVID-19 infection rate across the Australian state of Victoria, the authorities decided to shut its border with New South Wales (NSW) starting from Wednesday, Victoria State Premier Daniel Andrews said on Monday.
Australia reported 140 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, and 127 of those were registered in Victoria. Local authorities have already re-imposed restrictions on several residential complexes in the state where coronavirus clusters have been identified. The new lockdown affects almost 3,000 people, who are not allowed to leave their homes for five days.
"From 11:59 PM [13:59 GMT], Midnight, tomorrow night, the border with New South Wales will be closed … That closure will be enforced on the New South Wales side, so as not to be a drain on resources that are very much focused on fighting the virus right now across our state," Andrews said during a press conference.
Andrews added that the decision to shut the border was made following talks with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
According to Berejiklian, the NSW border will be shut for Melbourne residents on Tuesday, and for all of Victoria on Wednesday. At the same time, Victorians residing in NSW would be allowed to return to their home state.
Australia has so far confirmed 8,586 COVID-19 cases, over 7,400 recoveries and 106 coronavirus-related deaths.
GENEVA (Sputnik) -Trials of remdesivir will continue for two more months, the World Health Organisation (WHO) cannot definitively recommend the drug as effective against COVID-19 yet, Chief Scientist of the WHO Soumya Swaminathan said.
According to Swaminathan, the drug trials will move into the second phase in two months. The first phase, which includes effectiveness tests, may take some time, the scientist said.
Countries can publish their own emergency recommendations but WHO does not have any official recommendation on the drug, Swaminathan said. According to the WHO chief scientist, remdesivir does not appear to lower the fatality rate.
BISHKEK/TASHKENT (Sputnik) - A further 314 new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in Kyrgyzstan over the past 24 hours, a slight increase from the 283 new positive tests reported on the previous day, the country’s coronavirus response centre stated on Monday.
“As of 6 July 2020, there were 314 new cases of COVID-19 registered in the republic, 161 of them were in Bishkek,” the response centre said.
Additionally, the country’s COVID-19 death toll rose by four over the past day to 92. Kyrgyzstan’s case total now stands at 7,691.
The response centre also said that 18 people have died over the previous day from community-acquired pneumonia. In total, 195 people have lost their lives due to this illness since March, and there are more than 2,000 people currently in hospital receiving treatment.
Elsewhere in the region, Uzbekistan’s COVID-19 case total has surpassed 10,000 after 314 new cases were registered over the past 24 hours, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. The corresponding rise reported on Saturday morning was 277.
“As of 10:00 [05:00 GMT] on July 6, 2020, the number of coronavirus disease cases in Uzbekistan is 10,143,” the ministry said in a post on Telegram.
The country’s COVID-19 death toll has also risen by one to 35, the ministry said.
Certain restrictions on public gatherings and travel in Uzbekistan have been extended until August amid the ongoing health crisis.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - India has surpassed Russia and became a country with the third-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, after the overall tally in the Asian country reached 697,413 on Monday.
India is now only behind the United States (nearly 3 million cases) and Brazil (more than 1.6 million).
According to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the country registered more than 24,200 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, a slight decrease from 24,800 a day ago. At the same time, the country reported 425 coronavirus-related fatalities over the given period, and the death toll reached 19,693 since the start of the outbreak.
More than 424,000 people have fully recovered from the disease, meaning that the number of active cases at the moment stood at 253,287.
India's central state of Maharashtra, with over 206,600 COVID-19 cases, remains the most affected region. It is followed by the southern state of Tamil Nadu, with more than 111,100 cases, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, with over 99,400 cases.
Despite the growing number of cases, in late June, the government announced the second phase of lifting quarantine restrictions. According to the new rules, lockdowns are still in places in regions deemed "red zones" where the infection rates are still high at least until July 31. On June 8, India started lifting restrictions in some parts of the country with low infection rates allowing places of worship, shopping centers and restaurants to open in the first phase.
Russia's most recent update says there is a total of 681,251 coronavirus cases in the country.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Germany confirmed 219 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the overall tally to 196,554, the Robert Koch Institute said on Monday.
On Sunday, the country reported 239 new cases.
At the same time, more than 182,000 people have fully recovered since the start of the outbreak.
Bavaria accounts for most of Germany's COVID-19 cases (48,744), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (44,064) and Baden-Wurttemberg (35,807). The German capital of Berlin has so far recorded 8,451 cases.
