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- More than 18 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus as of Monday. Almost 10.64 million patients have recovered and while almost 688,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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The United States is in a new phase of the novel coronavirus outbreak with infections “extraordinarily widespread” in rural areas as well as cities, a White House coronavirus experts said, as cases hit 4.68 million with more than 155,000 deaths reported.
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Despite fears of the spread of coronavirus, parliamentary elections will go ahead in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hoping to tighten his hold on the nation’s politics.
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Millions of COVID-19 tests able to detect the virus within 90 minutes will be rolled out in the UK to boost capacity in the coming months, the country’s health minister has announced, while cases nationwide surpassed 306,000, with more than 46,000 deaths.
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Brazil has recorded 25,800 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 541 deaths, bringing the total to more than 2.73 million and more than 94,000 deaths as of the end of Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry.
Here are the latest updates:
Monday, August 3
04:22 GMT – US adds more than 45,000 new COVID-19 cases, 420 deaths
The United States has added at least 45,688 as of the end of Sunday, raising the total to 4.68 million from the previous day of 4.64 million, according to the latest Reuters tally on Monday.
Reuters also reported at least 420 new deaths during the same 24-hour period, raising the total to 155,343, compared to 154,923 the previous day.
04:03 GMT – Honduras extends coronavirus curfew for another week
Honduras will extend its coronavirus curfew for another week through to August 9 in an effort to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters news agency reported on Monday quoting the country’s security ministry.
Honduras first imposed a curfew, which is in daily effect between 5 pm (2300 GMT) and 7 am (1300 GMT), in March.
03:48 GMT – Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 509 to 210,402
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 509 to 210,402, Reuters news agency reported on Monday quoting data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.
The reported death toll rose by seven to 9,148, the tally showed.
03:18 GMT – Sri Lanka polls to go ahead despite spread of coronavirus
Parliamentary elections will go ahead in Sri Lanka on Wednesday despite fears that the coronavirus could spread among the crowd of voters.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hopes to tighten his hold on the nation’s fractious politics in an election that could elevate his brother and allow the two to change the constitution if they prevail.
Rajapaksa, who claims credit for controlling the spread of the new coronavirus in the island nation, hopes to install his elder brother and former president – current caretaker Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa – in the post formally with an outright election victory.
Voters in the tiny Indian Ocean nation of 21 million people will wear masks, carry their own pens to mark ballot papers and maintain physical distancing for the parliamentary polling that has twice been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Votes will be counted on Thursday.
Sri Lanka has reported 2,816 infections of the new coronavirus and 11 COVID-19 deaths as of Sunday. The totals are lower than in neighbouring south Asian countries, held in check by a strict lockdown since March.
02:31 GMT – Coronavirus outbreak in Xinjiang subsides, 28 new cases reported
An outbreak in China’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang is continuing to subside, with 28 new cases reported Monday, according to AP news agency.
The outbreak of 590 cases so far has been concentrated in the capital, Urumqi, where authorities have conducted mass testing, cut public transport, isolated some communities and restricted travel.
Meanwhile, the semi-autonomous Chinese city of Hong Kong are struggling to contain infections, with more than 200 added over the weekend.
02:15 GMT – South Korea reports 23 new COVID-19 cases
South Korea has confirmed 23 additional cases of the coronavirus, amid a downward trend in the number of locally infected patients, AP news agency reported.
The additional cases announced on Monday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the country’s total to 14,389 with 301 deaths.
The agency says 20 new cases came from overseas while the rest were locally infected.
Health authorities have said imported cases are less threatening to the wider community as they enforce two-week quarantines on all people arriving from abroad.
02:00 GMT – Australia’s Melbourne braces for more business closures as tougher restrictions bite
Australia’s second-biggest city Melbourne entered its first day of tougher restrictions to contain the spread of a resurgent coronavirus on Monday as residents braced for further announcements on business closures, Reuters news agency reported.
The state of Victoria declared a “state of emergency” on Sunday and imposed a nightly curfew for the capital as part of the country’s harshest movement restrictions to date.
The move was backed by the federal government with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying it was “regrettably necessary” to stop the spread of the pandemic.
State premier Daniel Andrews was expected to announce fresh measures around businesses that must close later on Monday.
Supermarkets will remain open along with restaurant takeaway and delivery services, but some businesses that previously had not been forced to close will be asked to shut down. Schools will move to remote learning from Wednesday.
“This is devastating … nobody wanted it to get to this,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Nine News television.
01:15 GMT – Pope appeals to political leaders create jobs
Pope Francis has called on politicians to create jobs so that economies can relaunch from the lockdowns imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The pope, speaking after the traditional Sunday blessing, said that ’”without work, families and society cannot go forward. Let us pray for this, because this will be a problem in the post-pandemic period, the poverty and the lack of jobs. It requires lots of solidarity and lots of creativity to resolve this problem.”
The pontiff also wished the faithful “some days of rest, and contact with nature, to recharge also in the spiritual dimension.”
The pope’s remarks follow a week in which officials released statistics showing a record plunge in both the US and eurozone economies.
00:55 GMT – Italy’s tally of new virus cases down to 239
The number of new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Italy nudged lower to 239 in the last 24 hours, while all eight deaths were recorded in Lombardy, the epicentre of the country’s epidemic.
That brings the total number of cases in Italy to 248,070 and deaths to 35,154, AP news agency reported early on Monday quoting the country’s health ministry.
The number of daily cases in Italy has hovered between 200-300 for weeks, mostly related to people arriving from outside of Italy, either foreign workers or migrants.
00:25 GMT – Britain to roll out millions of 90-minute coronavirus tests
Britain’s healthcare system has come under severe strain during peaks in the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, which has killed more than 46,000 people, the fourth highest toll in the world [Andy Rain/EPA]
Millions of COVID-19 tests able to detect the virus within 90 minutes will be rolled out to British hospitals, care homes and laboratories to boost capacity in the coming months, Reuters news agency reported on Monday quoting the country’s health minister.
The tests will comprise 5.8 million tests using DNA and 450,000 swab tests. Neither will need to be administered by a health professional, said Matt Hancock.
Separately, the publicly-funded National Health Service said it would be offering “COVID-friendly” treatments to cancer patients, including drugs that do not have a big impact on the immune system.
Britain’s healthcare system has come under severe strain during peaks in the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, which has killed more than 46,000 people, the fourth highest toll in the world, according to a Reuters tally collated on Sunday.
00:15 GMT – Mexico reports 4,853 new coronavirus cases, 274 more deaths
Mexico’s health ministry has reported 4,853 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 274 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 439,046 cases and 47,746 deaths, according to Reuters news agency.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
Crematory workers are pictured next to a body bag containing the body of victim of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a crematory in Mexico City on Sunday [Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
00:01 GMT – Brazil registers 25,800 new coronavirus cases, death toll tops 94,000
Brazil has recorded 25,800 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 541 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters news agency quoting the country’s health ministry.
Brazil has registered more than 2.73 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 94,104 as of the end of Sunday, according to the ministry data.
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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
For all the key coronavirus-related developments from yesterday, August 2, click here.
