TUESDAY AUGUST 25 - CORONAVIRUS GLOBAL UPDATE

 in-cyprus 25 August 2020 - by Annie Charalambous

More than 23.57 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 809,569​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

EUROPE

* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called on parents to send their children back to school after the summer holidays, which he views as a key step to helping the country and its economy recover from the lockdown.

* Poland on Monday insisted it would reopen schools next week for the first time since mid-March despite reaching a record high number of daily registered infections late last week.

* French authorities will in coming days reciprocate Britain’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France.

AMERICAS

* U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the FDA’s “emergency use authorization” of a coronavirus treatment that uses blood plasma from recovered patients, a day after accusing it of impeding the rollout of vaccines and treatments for political reasons.

* Total COVID-19 cases in Brazil surpassed 3.6 million after it reported 23,421 new cases and 494 additional fatalities on Sunday, while Mexico reported 226 more deaths, ending the week with 3,723 fatalities — the lowest total in more than two months.

* Peruvian government officials condemned the owner of a nightclub after at least 13 people were crushed to death or asphyxiated as partygoers tried to flee a party raided by police because it violated coronavirus restrictions.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Seoul ordered the wearing of masks in both indoor and outdoor public places for the first time, as it battles a surge in cases.

* Tokyo reported 95 new cases on Monday, its lowest single-day tally since July 8.

* New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern extended a lockdown in the country’s largest city until the end of this week and introduced mandatory mask wearing on public transport across the nation.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Some Israelis, fearing a quarantine order after unwittingly being near a coronavirus carrier, are rendering themselves untraceable while in public by switching their cellphones to “airplane mode” or using prepaid “burner” SIM cards instead.

MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS

* Some 172 countries are engaging with the WHO-led COVAX plan designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said, but added more funding is urgently needed.

* The U.S. FDA on Sunday said it authorized the use of blood plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 as a treatment for the disease.

* Italy kicked off human trials of a potential vaccine on Monday, joining a global effort to develop a response to the virus.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

* The dollar slid but a gauge of global equity markets advanced on Monday, driven by coronavirus treatment hopes that bolstered risk sentiment and lifted the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time peaks. * Safe-haven German bond yields edged up after their longest declining streak since January as hopes for a coronavirus treatment boosted risk appetite.

* Nigeria’s economy contracted by 6.1% in the second quarter of 2020, with lockdowns in its two main cities and low oil prices taking their toll.

* Irish consumer sentiment slipped in August after local lockdowns and stricter nationwide restrictions that the survey’s authors said may cause some to re-assess how long the disruption will last.