The global coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 11.1 million people and has claimed more than 528,000 lives. Here are updates for July 4th:
Commuters wait to board a train in Pretoria on July 1, 2020 after services resumed. (AFP)
Saturday, July 4
Spanish Catalonia places 200,000 people under lockdown
The region of Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, closed an area with around 200,000 residents near the city of Lleida after an increase in cases of the new coronavirus.
“We decided to limit the Segria area after data confirming a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections,” Catalan regional president Quim Torra told reporters, adding that no one would be allowed to enter or exit. of the area.
India’s coronavirus cases hit record
India recorded its highest peak in a single day of coronavirus cases, with more than 22,000 new cases and 442 deaths, as infections increased in the western and southern parts of the country amid heavy monsoon rains.
The western state of Maharashtra, home to the densely populated financial capital Mumbai, has the highest total in the country, registering 6,364 new cases of the virus on Saturday and 198 deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus.
India has the fourth most confirmed case in the world, exceeding 640,000, according to data from the health ministry.
The cases of Russia about 675,000
Russia reported 6,632 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, raising the national infection count to 674,515.
Authorities said 168 people had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 10,027.
Turkey has sent medical aid to Serbia a second time
Turkey has sent medical aid to Serbia to help the Balkan country fight Covid-19.
Materials prepared by the health ministry were loaded onto the giant 400M type A transport plane of the Turkish Armed Forces at Etimesgut Military Airport. The presidential flag was placed on aid kits on the plane, which traveled to the Serbian capital Belgrade.
Jimmie Johnson, first NASCAR driver to test positive for virus
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss this weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Johnson, 44, is the first driver in any NASCAR series to test positive and the news casts a shadow over the historic NASCAR-IndyCar double title races to be held on Saturday and Sunday. There was no indication that any race would be affected.
Hendrick Motorsports said Johnson will not return until cleared by a doctor. He was screened earlier on Friday after his wife, Chani, tested positive after experiencing allergy-like symptoms.
Johnson is asymptomatic.
Australia’s victory reports 108 new cases
Australia’s second most populous state, Victoria, reported its biggest jump in cases since the end of March, forcing it to expand orders to stay home to two more suburbs and send nine towers of public housing in a complete shutdown.
The southeastern state recorded 108 new cases, up from 66 on Friday and more than 70 new cases in each of the previous four days, forcing authorities to reimpose the blockades in more than 30 suburbs earlier in the week.
South Africa Reports Record Daily Infections
South Africa has announced another daily record number of confirmed cases with 9,064, as the most developed country in Africa shows signs of stress in dealing with the pandemic.
Thirty percent of South Africa’s more than 177,000 cases are now in Gauteng province, which contains Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.
More than 2,900 people in the country have died. The African continent overall has more than 433,000 confirmed virus cases.
63 new cases in major cities in South Korea
South Korea has reported 63 new cases of the virus, continuing a week-long resurgence as new groups emerge in various parts of the country.
Figures announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised the national totals to 13,030 infections, including 283 deaths.
Twenty-eight of the new cases were reported from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea’s 51 million people live. Infections were also reported in major cities such as Busan, Daegu, Daejeon and Gwangju, where hundreds of schools have been closed and social restrictions are high.
Twenty-seven cases were related to international arrivals. South Korea has applied two-week quarantines to all foreign passengers since April.
Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend coronavirus is positive
President Donald Trump’s eldest son’s girlfriend tested positive for coronavirus, US media reported.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News television personality who is dating Donald Trump Jr., had traveled to South Dakota to see the July 4 fireworks of the President of the United States at Mount Rushmore.
Guilfoyle, 51, was isolated immediately after discovering she had the virus in a routine test conducted on anyone expected to have close contact with the president, the New York Times reported.
In a statement to the newspaper, Sergio Gor, chief of staff for the Trump campaign finance committee, said: “It is doing well and will be re-evaluated to ensure the diagnosis is correct as it is asymptomatic.”
He added: “As a precaution (she) will cancel all upcoming events. Donald Trump Jr was negative, but as a precaution he also isolates himself and cancels all public events.”
Guilfoyle is the third person close to the President of the United States to return a positive test for Covid-19, the US media reported.
Tokyo new infections of more than 100 for the third day, says NHK
Tokyo confirmed some 130 new cases of infections, a third consecutive day with more than 100 new cases, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Cases in Tokyo have risen to a maximum of two months, fueled by the spread of the virus in the capital’s nightclubs.
Tokyo reported 124 new cases on Friday, up from 107 the day before, in part due to increased evidence among nightlife workers in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro districts.
Confirmed cases in Germany increase by 422 to 196,096
The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 422 to 196,096, data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases showed.
The reported death count increased from 7 to 9,010, according to the count.
The United States registers 57,683 new cases in 24 hours
The United States recorded 57,683 cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University, the third day in a row with a record number of new infections.
The Baltimore-based university tracker showed the total number of cases since the pandemic reached the US at 2,793,022 at 0030 on Saturday GMT.
The university also recorded another 728 deaths, bringing the total deaths in the United States to 129,405.
The new record-breaking case count came as infections increased in the southern and western states, and when the United States, the country hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the world, heads to the holiday weekend of May 4. July.
Brazil exceeds 1.5 million cases
Brazil registered 42,223 additional cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said, bringing the total figure to 1,539,081, the second worst outbreak in the world after the United States.
The number of deaths from coronavirus increased by 1,290 to 63,174, according to the ministry.
Mexico registers 6,740 more infections
The Mexican Ministry of Health reported 6,740 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 654 additional deaths, bringing the total in the country to 245,251 cases and 29,843 deaths.
The number of new cases was just one less than the record number reported on Thursday.
The government has said that the actual number of infected people is likely to be significantly higher than confirmed cases.
Senior aide to Afghan President dies of Covid-19
Afghanistan’s top presidential adviser, Yosuf Ghazanfar, died of the coronavirus on Friday night, an official confirmed.
Ghazanfar, who is also a prominent businessman, was ill for some time, presidential spokesman Shah Hussein Murtazawi said.
Earlier this year, local media reported that many people close to President Ashraf Ghani had tested positive for Covid-19.
These reports were not publicly confirmed by officials.
However, the presidential spokesperson confirmed that Ghani and the first lady had tested negative for the virus.
Covid-19’s death toll has reached 807 in Afghanistan, with more than 32,000 cases and more than 16,000 recoveries.
WHO urges focus on first wave of coronavirus
The head of emergencies at the World Health Organization says “we have to fight now” during a spike in the current wave of the coronavirus pandemic, instead of focusing on when a second wave might come.
Dr. Michael Ryan said that the world will be much better fighting a second wave, if people can learn the lessons of fighting the first wave.
WHO officials emphasized the wearing of masks, social distancing and hygiene of people, along with contact tracing and case tracking by health authorities as key strategies to combat the virus. They say that governments and individuals should outline their policies and behavior based on the state of the outbreak in their countries.
Ryan said the world was experiencing a “second peak in the first wave,” a situation in which the virus has not been suppressed enough to stop transmission to end the first wave.
Johnson first NASCAR driver to test positive
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss this weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The 44-year-old Johnson is the first driver of any NASCAR series to test positive and news on Friday night overshadows the historic NASCAR-IndyCar double-title races to be held on Saturday and Sunday. There was no indication that any race would be affected.
Hendrick Motorsports said Johnson will not return until cleared by a doctor.
He was screened earlier on Friday after his wife, Chani, tested positive after experiencing allergy-like symptoms.
The father of MMA star Nurmagomedov dies
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, the father and former trainer of Russian mixed martial arts star Khabib Nurmagomedov, died at age 57 after contracting coronavirus, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced.
The fighter’s father was first hospitalized in April in his native Dagestan region in the North Caucasus, and was then transferred to a Moscow clinic.
Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov trained numerous champions in judo and the sambo of Russian martial arts discipline.
He started teaching his son fighting movements from the age of three, the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid reported.
In 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a televised meeting with Khabib Nurmagomedov and his father, saying that the fighter did not deserve severe punishment for a post-fight fight.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
