The coronavirus is on the rise across the world, with India showing the highest number of new COVID-19 cases. At the same time, tens of thousands have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in Latin America, including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina.
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Germany confirmed 879 new COVID-19 cases and eight new coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24-hour period, the Robert Koch Institute, which is responsible for disease control and prevention in Germany, said on Tuesday.
On Monday, 509 new coronavirus cases and seven new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in Germany.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany now stands at 211,281. The country’s total COVID-19 death toll is 9,156, according to the latest data from the Robert Koch Institute.
Around 194,000 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Germany.
On Saturday, Germany reported 955 new coronavirus cases and seven new deaths from COVID-19. On Sunday, there were 240 new cases and seven new deaths.
The Robert Koch Institute warns that there has been an increase in COVID-19 case numbers in many federal states in Germany since last week and is calling for adherence to social distancing guidelines.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China registered 36 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, over a dozen COVID-19 patients recovered in that period, the country's National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
Out of the 36 new cases, 30 are local, while the rest are imported. According to the commission, most of the local cases have been registered in Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwestern China, where new sparks in infection were recently reported.
The country's total number of confirmed coronavirus cases now stands at 84,464, the death toll remains at 4,634. The total number of recovered individuals in China stands at 79,030 (an increase of 17 over the past 24 hours).
The total number of imported coronavirus cases in China is 2,098.
In the past 24 hours, 21 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases were registered in China, 12 of them imported. More than 264 asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus are being monitored.
On Monday, China registered 43 new coronavirus cases, 36 of them local with the majority of them registered in Xinjiang. Also on Monday, 11 new asymptomatic cases were registered in China, three of them imported.
BUENOS AIRES (Sputnik) - During the pandemic of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Mexico tested the health of more than 1 million people, registering 443,813 coronavirus cases, the country's Health Ministry said.
The death toll during the outbreak has reached 48,012.
As of 2 August, a total of 439,046 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the country, with 47,746 deaths.
LONDON (Sputnik) - More than 900 new coronavirus cases were registered in the United Kingdom in the past 24 hours with the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country now standing at over 305,600, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Nine new deaths from COVID-19 were registered in the United Kingdom in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll up to 46,210, the latest (Monday afternoon) data from the health department shows. Within the same period, 938 new coronavirus cases were reported, with the total number of cases in the UK now standing at 305,623.
On Sunday, the health department reported 744 new coronavirus cases. On Saturday, the daily increase was 771.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - More than 16,400 new COVID-19 cases and over 500 new coronavirus-related deaths were confirmed in Brazil in the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from the Health Ministry.
Brazil now has a total of 2,750,153 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 16,476 new cases having been registered in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Monday. Over the same period, 556 new deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed in Brazil, bringing the country’s total death toll up to 94,660.
On Sunday, Brazil reported 25,800 new coronavirus cases and 541 new coronavirus-related fatalities. On Saturday, Brazil reported 45,392 new coronavirus cases and 1,088 new deaths from COVID-19, while on Friday there were 52,383 new COVID-19 cases and over 1,200 new coronavirus-related deaths.
Over 1.8 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in Brazil since the start of the epidemic in the country, according to the health ministry.
Brazil is second in the global coronavirus case count, after the United States, which has a total of over 4.6 million confirmed cases. The US also has the highest COVID-19 death toll of all the countries (more than 155,000 confirmed deaths). Brazil has the second-highest death toll, while Mexico is third with over 47,700 deaths reported.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Another 12 COVID-19 patients died in the Russian capital in the past 24 hours, bringing Moscowэы total coronavirus death toll up to over 4,500, according to the coronavirus response centre.
"Twelve patients, all diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus infection, have passed away in Moscow", the centre said in a statement.
A day earlier, 13 new deaths from COVID-19 were reported in the Russian capital.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - More than 257,000 new coronavirus cases were reported worldwide over the past 24 hours, and the overall tally surpassed 17.9 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
Over the past day, 257,677 new cases were reported to the WHO, and the total number reached 17,918,582 since the start of the health crisis.
At the same time, 5,810 new coronavirus-related fatalities were registered globally over the given period, taking the overall death toll to 686,703.
Most cases and fatalities — more than 9.63 million and over 363,000, respectively — remain concentrated in the Americas. The United States continues to be the country with the highest single count of cases and fatalities — over 4.5 million and more than 153,000, respectively. The US is then followed by Brazil, with over 2.7 million cases and 93,563 deaths, and India, where more than 1.8 million cases and 38,135 deaths have been registered.
Europe, with nearly 3.4 million cases and 213,559 related deaths, is the second worst-hit region after the Americas.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Young people across New York State are failing to comply with guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and some local authorities are failing to enforce them properly, state Governor Andrew Cuomo told a press conference on Monday.
"We have a problem with young people with lack of compliance", Cuomo said. "We have a problem with bars and restaurants... Over the weekend [state authorities recorded] 106 violations. In terms of enforcement local governments have to do a better job".
Local authorities and police forces across the state needed to do a better job of enforcing regulations to prevent and break up large gatherings, Cuomo said.
"We are seeing continued situations that are not intelligent and local governments have to crack down on them. It is just really reckless, rude and illegal... We need better enforcement across this state", he said.
New York State with a population of 19.4 million people had as of Monday recorded 421,550 cases and 32,413 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the New York Times.
The epidemiological situation in Estonia has worsened, Prime Minister Juri Ratas said on Monday, urging fellow countrymen to stay vigilant and follow COVID-19 precautions.
According to the prime minister, previous cabinet meetings showed that the virus transmission had been consistently declining and people had been vigilant.
"The tone of discussion of the situation may change this Thursday [government meetings are held on Thursdays]. As of last Friday [July 31], the infection rate in Estonia totaled 2.6, whereas a month ago it was 1.0. Over the past week, 43 cases of the disease have been detected, 24 of which are concentrated in the Tartu county. In addition, numerous examples that Estonian people forgot about the coronavirus force us to look at the situation differently", Ratas wrote on Facebook.
The prime minister noted that the virus has not disappeared, and the development of an anti-virus vaccine is still underway.
"The accumulated experience confirms that the best way to avoid infection and its spread is proper daily behavior: relentless vigilance and compliance with anti-virus rules", Ratas added.
Since the onset of the pandemic, Estonia has confirmed 2,080 coronavirus cases, including 63 deaths.
"Bilateral and multilateral negotiations are already underway, and between August and September of this year, the results should be visible, after which they will be made public", Peruvian Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano said during an address to the Congress.
According to the prime minister, the vaccine would be first distributed among the health workers, the police, the military and among the most vulnerable citizens.
Peru has so far confirmed over 428,000 COVID-19 cases, more than 294,000 recoveries and 19,614 related deaths.
"Today, we reported one of the lowest numbers of positive tests that we’ve reported in a long time and we’ve had two days in a row where the positivity has been 9 percent, which we were 15-16 percent there for a while", Governor Ron DeSantis said. "These are encouraging trends, obviously there’s a lot of more work to do".
Florida health officials reported 4,752 novel coronavirus cases on Monday, the lowest level since June.
Officials said at least some of the decline could be due to a drop in testing as Tropical Storm Isaias approached Florida’s east coast without making landfall before heading north, according to local media reports.
However, DeSantis mentioned other indicators showing "trends are a lot better", including a drop in visits to emergency rooms by people with novel coronavirus-like symptoms and a drop in hospitalizations.
"‘COVID-friendly’ cancer treatments that are safer for patients during the pandemic will be expanded and extended through a £160 million [$209.3 million] initiative, NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens announced today", the NHS said in a statement.
According to the service, in some cases, patients will be able to take their medicine at home, eliminating the need to go to the hospital.
The United Kingdom has confirmed a total of 304,695 COVID-19 cases.
"The government has entered into an 18-month agreement with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Wockhardt to carry out the crucial ‘fill and finish’ stage of the manufacturing process, which involves dispensing the manufactured [COVID-19] vaccine substance into vials ready for it to be distributed", the government said in a press release.
The so-called fill and finish stage is set to begin in September and will take place at CP Pharmaceuticals, a Wockhardt subsidiary based in in the UK town of Wrexham in North Wales, which is capable of finishing millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses.
"The second phase is underway, 220 people have already received this vaccine a long time ago, even before the situation with the coronavirus. I think that by the end of the year the tests will be completed", Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the research centre, said.
The Gamaleya centre director added that trials have been successful and that the MERS vaccine became a foundation for the COVID-19 vaccine.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet of ministers on Monday that the coronavirus fatality rate in the country had recently plateaued but remained among the highest in the world.
"The level of morbidity in Israel is among the highest in the world. This is the bad news. The good news is that over the past approximately two weeks, we have been on a plateau", Netanyahu said, according to a transcript on the government website.
The prime minister went on to set out tasks that must be dealt with immediately, as schools are preparing to open for the new school year.
"...In September, we are due to start the school year. These things join together in the major task of lowering the morbidity curve while building a capability for cutting the chain of infection. These are our two major tasks", Netanyahu said, according to the meeting minutes.
Netanyahu also warned that the "situation will be very difficult", as cutting the chain of transmission while thousands of new cases are registered daily is no easy feat.
STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) - The Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten on Monday said that it is temporarily suspending all expeditions on its vessels following the outbreak of the coronavirus on the ship Roald Amundsen.
"As a response to the coronavirus outbreak on board MS Roald Amundsen, Hurtigruten is temporarily suspending all expeditions on MS Roald Amundsen, MS Fridtjof Nansen, and MS Spitsbergen until further notice", the company said in a press release.
So far, 36 out of 160 crew members and several guests have tested positive for COVID-19 on board the Roald Amundsen. The company is currently cooperating with the Norwegian national and local health authorities to track and curb the further spread of the virus.
Last week, the media reported that the coronavirus infection had been detected in four crew members of the Roald Amundsen docked in the city of Tromso. All four are foreign citizens who arrived from the Svalbard archipelago. All crew members were set to run tests for the virus, while all passengers were to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
ROME (Sputnik) - Leading Italian rail companies have started cancelling trains and refunding tickets to passengers following the Health Ministry's instructions to reintroduce social distancing rules in rail cars.
State-owned railway carrier Trenitalita has informed customers of the new rules that envisage 50 percent capacity of trains with staggered passenger accommodation. The order of Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza cancels the provisions of the Council of Ministers' decree allowing carriers to start selling tickets without restrictions.
The pre-COVID regime lasted only a few days from 31 July, and on Sunday, several thousand people were not able to go use the service.
HELSINKI (Sputnik) - Korona, a mobile application that can trace COVID-19 exposure among the population, will be launched in Finland in test mode on Tuesday, the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said on Monday.
"Test mode of the Korona smartphone app will be available on Tuesday, 4 August. People themselves can contribute to preventing the spread of coronavirus and protect their own health and the health of their loved ones via the app", the THL said in a statement.
Korona allows coronavirus carriers to voluntarily enter information about their positive test to the app via a special code, which they receive in a health centre.
Other users who might have come into contact with a possible COVID-19 carrier will then get a notification from Korona with instructions about further steps needed. The app allows user to maintain their anonymity.
The app is expected to be fully available by early September.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia is in talks with Brazil and India on producing its vaccine against COVID-19 on the territory of these countries, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev told the Russia-24 broadcaster in an interview.
"Foreign partners show great interest in our vaccine production. We see requests from over 20 countries, and over five countries are currently actively cooperating with us on launching the production of the Russian vaccine there", Dmitriev said.
"This will be an important step to enable people outside Russia to be vaccinated. Brazil, India and many other countries that are eagerly waiting for the Russian vaccine are certainly interested", the RDIF chief added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) expects Russia's first vaccine against COVID-19 to be registered within 10 days, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said on Monday.
"We expect this vaccine to be registered in Russia within 10 days. The Health Ministry will certainly follow all the procedures. They have already received the first results of the first and the second phases of the trials, and they see that the results are great", Dmitriev said, as aired by the Russia-24 broadcaster.
"If it happens within the next 10 days, we will outstrip the United States and all other countries across the world, since this will be the world's first registered vaccine against the coronavirus", Dmitriev added.
"The terms of reference, a document that has been agreed with Chinese colleagues, lays out both the previous work that has been done to understand the disease and also the studies that are going to be needed to further understand the original cases in Wuhan to explore the epidemiological links of those cases and then use that as a starting point to see what animal origins of the disease would be", Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme Michael Ryan said Monday.
"There is no silver bullet at the moment and there might never be", Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced during a virtual news briefing.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK government has announced the roll-out of two new rapid COVID-19 tests that it hopes will help combat the pandemic in light of the upcoming flu season.
In a statement released on Monday, the government said it will supply the tests to National Health Service (NHS) hospitals and facilities, as well as elderly care homes across the UK, bolstering their on-the-spot testing capabilities.
"We’re using the most innovative technologies available to tackle coronavirus. Millions of new rapid coronavirus tests will provide on-the-spot results in under 90 minutes, helping us to break chains of transmission quickly", Health Secretary Matt Hancock was quoted as saying in the statement.
The two different testing methodologies were developed by separate private companies. Around 5,000 so-called Nudgebox machines will be provided to hospitals, the government said. Developed by DNAnudge which can produce results for up to 15 tests daily without the need for a laboratory. These machines are already in operation at eight London hospitals, the statement said.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has announced a major incident. The move, usually reserved for terror attacks and natural disasters, means the affected area can call on extra national resources to curb the virus.
"This move was simply to enable public agencies to access any additional resources they need as quickly and efficiently as possible", a GMCA spokesperson said. "This is no more than a boost to our capabilities... and maximise our resources in the drive to reverse the spike in infection which we have witnessed in the last seven to 10 days".
"Today we have secured additional capacity to manufacture millions of doses of multiple COVID-19 candidates, guaranteeing the supply of vaccines we need to protect people across the UK rapidly and in large numbers", UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Alok Sharma said.
Hong Kong reported another 80 infections on Monday, showing a decrease in the spread of the disease, as the number of new cases fell below 100 for the first time in 12 days.
The Philippine Health Ministry on Monday confirmed that 3,226 people had been diagnosed with the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, while the death toll increased by 46.
India's drug regulatory body has granted approval to the Serum Institute of India to conduct late-stage human trials for the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine.
The Serum Institute of India told Sputnik in an earlier interview that the trial would be conducted on 4,000-5,000 people in the country.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has registered 5,394 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours (5,427 yesterday), bringing the cumulative total to 856,264, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Monday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 5,394 COVID-19 cases in 83 regions, of which 1,413 (26.2 percent) have been detected with people showing no clinical symptoms", the response centre said in a statement.
This brings the total case count to 856,264, with the daily increase amounting to 0.6 percent.
TOKYO (Sputnik) - The number of companies that went bankrupt in Japan due to the situation surrounding COVID-19 has reached 400, NHK reported on Monday, citing data by the consulting firm Teikoku Databank.
The highest number of bankruptcies was observed in the restaurant and hospitality sector — 54 and 48, respectively. A total of 95 companies went bankrupt in Tokyo, while the figure stands at 41 in Osaka.
"If we see the virus spreading in a particular way in London, as we've seen in Manchester and West Yorkshire where it's spreading through people coming into another person's home, then we will discuss that... and we will not hesitate to act", junior Business Minister Nadhim Zahawi told LBC radio.
"The fact these tests can detect flu as well as COVID-19 will be hugely beneficial as we head into winter, so patients can follow the right advice to protect themselves and others", Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
According to Health Minister Jens Spahn, as cited by ARD TV, the testing will be mandatory for people returning from high-risk areas.
Victoria, which is Australia's second most populous state, will close retail shops and curb manufacturers in the coming weeks in a bid to slow down the pandemic, State Premier Daniel Andrews said.
MOSCOW, August 3 (Sputnik) - The Gambian presidential office on Monday announced that the country's ministers of finance, energy, and agriculture tested positive for COVID-19.
"The Office of the President informs the public that three Cabinet Ministers, Honourable Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mambureh Njie and Honourable Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Fafa Sanyang, and Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Amie Fabureh have tested positive for COVID-19", the office wrote on Twitter.
The news comes after Gambian Vice President Isatou Touray tested positive for the disease last week.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Germany has confirmed 509 new COVID-19 cases and seven new coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute, which is responsible for disease control and prevention in Germany, said on Monday.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany now stands at 210,402. The country’s total COVID-19 death toll is 9,148, while the total number of recoveries is 193,500, according to the latest data from the Robert Koch Institute.
BEIJING (Sputnik) – China has registered 43 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, 10 COVID-19 patients recovered over that period, which is four less than the day before, the country’s National Health Commission said on Monday.
Out of the 43 new cases, 36 are local, while the rest are imported. According to the commission, most of the local cases were registered in Xinjiang, an autonomous territory in northwestern China, where new spikes in infection were recently reported.
