BERLIN – Germany’s health inspectorate reported 2,034 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, the first time the daily national increase since the end of April has been 2,000.
The Robert Koch Institute calls the coronavirus outbreaks “very concerning.” They are reported in various institutions, including nursing homes and hospitals, schools, and “especially among travelers and in the context of religious or family events.”
The 16 states of Germany are again in the class. There are concerns about the risks of virus clusters in schools spreading to families and others. In Berlin, at least 41 schools reported this week that students as teachers were infected.
The country was widely praised for its rapid and efficient effort to slow the initial spread of the pandemic, which peaked at more than 6,000 daily cases near the end of March and beginning of April. But the numbers have increased in recent weeks.
In all, Germany has more than 232,000 confirmed cases and 9,200 deaths.
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HERE IS THAT YOU STILL KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS BREAKING:
– Quarantines, closures: Confidence reigns when schools reopen
– Mounting US dead reveals a great toll on people of color
– Mexico’s famous floating gardens reopen after shutting down viruses
– Their last breath becomes pain. Miami ICU nurse Rublas Ruiz has seen too much of her, the latest hostage of 17 men and women who died from the coronavirus.
South Korea bans large gatherings, sports fans, closed night spots and churches if it fights the spread of the coronavirus.
Fifteen Minnesota residents have contracted the coronavirus after being exposed during the 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Minnesota health officials expect the number to grow.
– Follow the pandemic coverage of AP at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS:
BREMERTON, Wash. Washington health officials say more than 30 coronavirus cases have been reported in an outbreak at Bremerton Hospital.
The Washington State Department of Health says the outbreak has affected multiple units near St. Louis. Michael Medical Center, which is part of the CHI Franciscan system. Officials say the outbreak affected hospital staff and staff.
The Kitsap District Health District and state health officials say they are working with the hospital to contain the outbreak after the first case was reported late last week. Officials say patients discharged from the affected units have been notified and new admissions and visits to the hospital are currently limited.
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NEW YORK – New York State will apply for a federal unemployment benefit program now that the state does not need to raise funds.
President Donald Trump had signed an executive order this month that made money available from a FEMA fund after a new bill for pandemic relief was not reached. The $ 400 per week benefit puts the onus on states to pay $ 100 per week of that amount.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the idea “laughable” because state budgets are cash from the coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Labor issued a statement last week saying states should not contribute.
Robert Mujica, director of the New York budget, says, “the federal government has blinked and will no longer provide states with funding they do not have.”
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PRAGUE – The Czech Republic has recorded its largest single-day increase in cases of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health says there were 506 new cases in the last 24-hour period. The previous height was 377 cases registered on 27 March.
The announcement Saturday comes a day after neighboring Slovakia also reported a record daily increase in infected people.
The Czech Republic has 21,551 confirmed cases and 411 deaths.
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NEW DELHI – India registered nearly 70,000 new coronavirus infections as the disease spread across the southern states of the country to plateaus in the capital and financial center of Mumbai.
India’s Ministry of Health reported 69,878 new cases on Saturday, bringing the total to 2,975,701. Globally, India reported the largest daily rise in cases for 18 consecutive days.
Some 2.2 million people have recovered from the disease in India since the first case was diagnosed in late January.
India has the third-highest caseload behind the United States and Brazil. Its 55,794 deaths are the fourth-highest death toll in the world.
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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea bans large gatherings, closes night spots and churches and expels fans of professional sports nationwide in an attempt to repel coronavirus infections.
Minister of Public Health Park Neung-hoo announced the measures on Saturday after officials reported 332 newly confirmed cases, marking the ninth straight day of triple-digit increases.
Most of the new cases were in the Seoul metropolis, which has been at the center of the viral upheaval of recent weeks. But infections were also reported in almost every major city and in cities across the country.
The government had already imposed stricter restrictions in the capital region this week, a move they have been resisting for months from economic concerns. Park says it has become inevitable to expand the same measures nationwide with the virus spreading more widely.
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BEIJING – Health officials in China say in their report on the coronavirus that the country had no locally transmitted infections in the last 24-hour period, although 22 cases were confirmed in Chinese arriving from abroad.
While the local spread of the virus seems to have taken hold on mainland China, the semi-autonomous southern city of Hong Kong is struggling with its worst outbreak since the pandemic began.
Hungarian leader Carrie Lam says free coronavirus tests will be offered to residents in the first two weeks of September, in hopes of restarting the highly service-dependent local economy.
A new rise in infections that began in July has more than doubled the number of cases in Hong Kong to 4,632 and 75 deaths.
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WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says he would do whatever was necessary to keep the country safe amid the coronavirus pandemic, even if it meant shutting down the country.
Biden made the comment in an interview with ABC. The interview will be broadcast Sunday night, but clips were delivered Friday.
Biden says, “I will be willing to do whatever it takes to save lives, because we can not move the country until we control the virus.” He adds that if scientists were to shut down the country, “I would shut it down.”
President Donald Trump is encouraging schools to reopen and people to get back to work. The US has had more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, with more than 175,000 deaths.
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SALEM, Ore. – Oregon public health experts say the number of new cases of coronavirus in the state has dropped over the past month, but the decline has not been enough for schools to open safely.
The state averages about 250 new cases a day, and health officials say that should drop to about 60 for schools to reopen.
Gov. Kate Brown says residents will need to continue to follow and maintain current statewide pandemic mandates as otherwise bars and restaurants will have to close and travel restrictions will be implemented.
Brown says at the current rate, schools will not be able to reopen until April.
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HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut doubles the amount of federal money for coronavirus dedicated to rental assistance.
But housing advocates say the shortfall falls from what is needed to help up to 130,000 households rumored to be facing possible evictions between now and Dec. 31 because of the pandemic. In comparison, there were about 20,000 broadcasts in the whole of 2019.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday that $ 10 million will be added to the original $ 10 million for the rental program. His office says the amount that can go to the rental program is limited by Congress.
Lamont says he will soon sign an executive order extending the housing eviction moratorium until Oct. 1.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. – Gow of Washington Jay Inslee asks Canada for help with US residents of a small peninsula that perished due to the pandemic-related closure of the US-Canada border.
Point Roberts is part of the state of Washington, but it originates from the Canadian mainland south of Vancouver and is not connected to the rest of Washington. About 1,300 people live there.
In a letter Friday to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Inslee suggests that Point Roberts residents obtain special travel permits that allow them to drive directly to and from mainland Washington state.
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HARRISBURG, Pa. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Sports Board decided Friday to move forward with the fall season, rejecting the governor’s recommendation that all youth sports be postponed until 2021 to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The board of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association had delayed the start of the fall sport by two weeks after Gov. Tom Wolf on August 6 advocated that scholastic and recreational youth sports be suspended until January, with the pandemic announced.
The PIAA had said it was blindsided and “hugely disappointed” by Wolf’s recommendation – which was not binding – and insisted that fall sports could be kept safe. For his part, Wolf pointed out that major collegiate leagues have independently canceled fall sports.
The board voted on Friday 25-5 to allow high schools, football, tennis, field hockey and other fall sports to continue as planned, beginning Monday. Among those who vote no: board members representing professional associations of school boards, superintendents and principals.
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