- Brazil’s coronavirus case load exceeded 2 million, doubling in less than a month as the United States went through 3.5 million total infections.
- The UN aid chief says support for the coronavirus to poor countries has so far been “extremely inadequate,” urging the G20 to step up aid or “pay the price later.”
- More than 13.7 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with COVID-19, while more than 7.7 million have recovered and more than 588,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates.
Friday, July 17
01:47 GMT – Algeria plans law to protect doctors as attacks increase
Algeria is planning a law to protect health workers after an increase in “physical and verbal attacks” since the country’s coronavirus outbreak began, Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s office announced.
The incidents have also involved in some cases “acts of damage and destruction of public property and medical equipment,” Tebboune’s office said in a statement.
01:08 GMT – UK increases health funds to avoid winter wave COVID-19
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will invest £ 3 billion ($ 3.77 billion) in England’s National Health Service (NHS) to try to prevent any resurgence of the coronavirus.
“The prime minister is clear that now is not the time for complacency, and we must ensure that our NHS is ready for the battle for the winter,” a spokesman said before a Johnson press conference on Friday afternoon.
Britain is the country most affected in Europe by COVID-19 with a death toll from confirmed cases of over 45,000.
Leeds General Nursing staff participate in applause for NHS national celebration in Leeds on July 5, 2020 [Oli Scarff/ AFP]
00:30 GMT – Brazil’s cases reach 2 million, doubling in less than a month
Brazil has passed the confirmed mark of 2 million coronavirus cases, with little sign that the rate of increase is slowing as anger over handling of the outbreak by President Jair Bolsonaro increases.
In recent weeks, about 40,000 new cases have been confirmed per day, according to government figures, and it took Brazil’s total case load just 27 days to increase from 1 million to 2 million cases.
On Thursday, confirmed cases in Brazil totaled 2,012,151, while deaths totaled 76,688.
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INTERIOR HISTORY | Will the President of Brazil be forced to take the coronavirus seriously? (24:38) |
Experts blame Bolsonaro for denying the virus’s deadly potential and lack of national coordination combined with scattered responses from state and municipal governments, with some reopens earlier than recommended by health experts.
00:17 GMT – ‘Advance now or pay the price later’: G20 urged to support poor countries
Coronavirus support to poor countries has so far been “extremely inadequate and that is dangerously short-sighted,” said UN aid chief Mark Lowcock, asking rich countries for billions of dollars more in aid.
The United Nations increased its humanitarian appeal by more than a third to $ 10.3 billion to help 63 states, primarily in Africa and Latin America, cope with the spread and destabilizing effects of the coronavirus. This is higher than the world body’s initial request for $ 2 billion in March, after $ 6.7 billion in May.
So far, Lowcock said, the UN has only received $ 1.7 billion.
As finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies prepare to meet virtually on Saturday, Lowcock told reporters: “The message for the G20 is to step up now or pay the price later.”
“The response so far from wealthy nations, which have correctly discarded the fiscal and monetary rule books to protect their own peoples and economies, the response they have given to situations in other countries has been extremely inadequate and that is dangerously short-sighted “
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continued coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I am Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives.
You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 16, here.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
