Global coronavirus deaths killed more than 800,000 people on Saturday, according to Johns Hopkins University data, which came less than 24 hours after the World Health Organization said it hoped the pandemic would last less than two years.
Occasionally there was an upturn in Eastern European countries on Saturday, as Ukraine recorded 2,328 new cases and 37 deaths between Friday and Saturday, figures from the National Security and Defense Council showed.
It asked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to urge people on Saturday to provide health advice, wear masks and maintain social distance, as data showed daily infections had risen to a record level.
“Please help doctors, be careful,” Zelenskiy said in a television interview. “We really did not have the first wave (of infections) when it happened in Europe. Now it is coming.”
The head of Israel’s coronavirus task force also called on Ukraine on Saturday to ban an annual pilgrimage in which tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews descend on the central Ukrainian city of Uman, ahead of the Jewish New Year in September.
Fearing it could become a virus hotspot, the two governments have already issued a joint statement pleading with pilgrims to cancel their trips, although large crowds are still expected to fly inside.
Nearly 506 new cases of coronavirus were registered in the Czech authorities on Friday, the highest number of new infections in one day since the outbreak began there.
The Czech government was one of the first in Europe to introduce social security rights, but began lifting restrictions in May.
News of the spikes came less than 24 hours after WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva that the organization hopes to “end this pandemic (in) less than two years. complete. “
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“We have a disadvantage of globalization, proximity, connectivity but an advantage of better technology,” he said, calling for global solidarity in the pursuit of a fax machine. Add that the Spanish flu of 1918 also lasted about two years.
Elsewhere, India reported a record daily jump of infections on Saturday, bringing the total to close to 3 million and putting pressure on authorities.
South Korea said on Saturday that it would roll out tougher social distancing measures to curb the spread of the virus as it fights a new outbreak that is spreading from the capital Seoul.
Meanwhile, there was a glimmer of hope in Spain, which suffered badly during the outbreak of Europe, as more than half of the companies in the country reopened, according to data from the government that were released on Saturday.
However, France was forced to delay the discovery of details of its 100 billion ($ 118 billion) recovery plan to restore the economy until September, while focusing on preparing for the opening of schools for the new term, the government said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
