in-cyprus 26 June 2020 -Josephine Koumettou
Last updated: 26/06/2020 09:42
The governor of Texas temporarily halted the state’s reopening on Thursday as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations surged, and the country set a new record for a one-day increase in cases.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* More than 9.62 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 488,467 have died, a Reuters tally showed as of 0400 GMT on Friday.
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, click here.
EUROPE
* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 477 to 192,556, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.
* Ireland plans to lift from July 9 a 14-day quarantine for people arriving from countries that have also suppressed the coronavirus, acting prime minister Leo Varadkar said.
AMERICAS
* Government experts believe more than 20 million Americans could have contracted the coronavirus, 10 times more than official counts, indicating many people without symptoms have or have had the disease, senior administration officials said.
* Mexico’s healthy ministry on Thursday reported 6,104 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 736 deaths. The country’s finance ministry said it has initiated epidemiological contact tracing after Finance Minister Arturo Herrera tested positive for the virus.
* Colombia’s first suspected death from COVID-19 occurred in February, almost a month before the Andean country originally reported its first case of the coronavirus, the government’s statistics agency said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Thailand on Friday confirmed four new coronavirus cases, all of which were imported from abroad, marking 32 days without community transmission.
* China’s health authority on Friday reported 13 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for June 25, down from 19 a day earlier.
* Australia will stick with plans to further ease coronavirus curbs, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, despite a spike in infections in Victoria state.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Nigeria’s outbreak may push 5 million people into poverty as it triggers the worst recession in the African powerhouse since the 1980s, the World Bank said .
* The number of cases in the six Gulf Arab states has doubled in a month to more than 400,000, as the region’s two biggest economies this week fully lifted curfews imposed to combat the infection.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The European healthcare regulator’s endorsement put Gilead’s antiviral drug, remdesivir, on track to become the first therapy for the disease on the continent. * Egypt’s Eva Pharma said it had begun producing remdesivir and favipiravir, two drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients.
* Moderna Inc said it was partnering with Catalent Inc to prepare an initial 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for the U.S., starting in the third quarter.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* The pandemic is more likely to leave a legacy of weak or falling prices for goods and services than to trigger higher global inflation, according to a majority of over 160 economists polled by Reuters.
* The outlook for a global economic recovery over the past month has worsened or at best stayed about the same, according to a firm majority of economists in Reuters polls, with the ongoing recession expected to be deeper than predicted.
* Thailand recorded no foreign tourists for a second month in May as borders remained closed to control the coronavirus spread.
* British car production plummeted by an annual 95% in May with just 5,314 vehicles built, an industry body said.
(Reuters)
Pictured: A stewardess takes the body temperature of a man before boarding a plane at Paris-Orly Airport on its re-opening day following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in France, June 26, 2020. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
