India overtakes Russia to become 3rd worst-affected nation by COVID-19
The Associated Press · Posted: Jul 06, 2020
India has overtaken Russia with the world’s third-highest number of novel coronavirus cases at nearly 700,000, according to the latest data, as the outbreak shows no sign of slowing.
Health ministry data on Monday showed more than 23,000 new cases reported in the previous 24 hours, down slightly from Sunday’s record increase of almost 25,000.
There have been almost 20,000 deaths in India since the first case was detected there in January.
India is now the world’s third worst-affected country, behind only the United States and Brazil.
Health professionals administer COVID-19 tests to an elderly indigenous Guarani man in Brazil. (Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images)
It has seen eight times the number of cases as China, which has a similar-sized population and where the virus originated late last year.
Officials said they had reversed a decision to reopen the Taj Mahal, India’s most famous tourist attraction, in the city of Agra, 200 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, on Monday, following a spate of new cases in the area.
What’s happening with COVID-19 in Canada
As of 7 a.m. ET on Monday, Canada had 105,536 confirmed and presumptive coronavirus cases. Provinces and territories listed 69,239 of the cases as recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial reports, regional health information and CBC’s reporting stood at 8,729.
Ontario’s courts will resume in-person proceedings Monday after being shuttered for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ministry of the Attorney General has said courtrooms will reopen gradually, with the goal of having all courtrooms operational by Nov. 1. Courthouses have been closed since March 16, with some operations moving online.
The initial plan was to have 149 courtrooms in both the Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice open today for trials and preliminary inquiries in 44 locations, but on Saturday, the ministry announced that two of those locations were not yet ready to reopen.
In the courthouses that are reopening, there will be Plexiglas barriers in courtrooms, interview rooms, intake offices and at public counters.
Here’s what’s happening around the world
The Philippines has reported its biggest spike in coronavirus infections in recent days, raising the possibility its crowded capital may be placed back under a strict lockdown.
The Department of Health reported 2,434 cases in recent days, most of them in metropolitan Manila, raising the number of cases nationwide to more than 44,250, including 1,297 deaths. The infections and deaths are among the highest in Southeast Asia.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said there’s a possibility the capital area may revert to a lockdown if the uptick continues and hospitals get filled again.
A commuter’s temperature is checked by a worker before being allowed to board a bus in Manila, the Philippines. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
At least one major Manila hospital, the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Centre, said its COVID-19 ward was running at full capacity and appealed that new patients be taken elsewhere.
The leader of Australia’s most populous state says her government’s decision to close its border with hard-hit Victoria state marks a new phase in the country’s coronavirus pandemic.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian had long been a critic of states that closed their borders to her state when its capital Sydney had Australia’s largest numbers of COVID-19 cases.
But she had changed her stance on keeping Australia’s internal borders open because the situation in Melbourne, capital of Victoria, was unprecedented.
The overwhelming majority of new cases detected in Melbourne in recent weeks were from community transmission. Everywhere else in Australia, the vast majority of cases were infected overseas or had been infected by a returned traveller, Berejiklian said.
“What is occurring in Victoria has not yet occurred anywhere else in Australia,” she said. “It’s a new part of the pandemic and, as such, it requires a new type of response.”
Pakistan’s Minister of State for Health Zafar Mirza tested positive for the coronavirus, the latest high-profile government minister to contract the virus.
Foreign Minister Moahmood Qureshi announced Friday that he too tested positive for the virus.
Pakistan has recorded 231,813 infections and 4,762 deaths. Prime Minister Imran Khan has refused to impose strict lockdowns and has eased many restrictions. However, he has ordered people to wear masks and physically distance, though most people, especially the poor and residents in the congested cities, are not able to keep their distance.
Paris‘s Louvre Museum, which houses the Mona Lisa, reopened Monday after a four-month coronavirus lockdown and without its usual huge throngs.
Health officials takes a swab sample from a man during door to door screening and testing for COVID-19 in Pakistan. The nation’s minister of state for health tested positive on Monday. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images)
Face masks were a must and visitor numbers were limited, with reservations required. Among the trickle of returning tourists was Zino Vandenbeaghen, who travelled from Belgium to enjoy the unusual space at both the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles.
About 70 per cent of the giant museum — 45,000 square metres of space — housing 30,000 of the Louvre’s vast trove of works is again accessible to visitors starved of art in lockdown.
“It’s very emotional for all the teams that have prepared this reopening,” said Jean-Luc Martinez, the museum director.
The bulk of visitors to what was the world’s most-visited museum before the pandemic used to come from overseas, led by travellers from the United States.
The Louvre is hoping the reopening will attract visitors from closer to home, including the Paris region, but is bracing for a plunge in numbers.
Martinez said the museum was expecting just 7,000 visitors on the reopening day. Before the pandemic, as many as 50,000 people per day toured the Louvre in the busiest summer months.
The number of coronavirus cases in Qatar exceeded 100,000 on Monday, with 546 new cases added and five deaths in the past 24 hours.
With a population of about 2.7 million people, the energy-rich Gulf state has one of the world’s highest per capita number of confirmed cases.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on Monday a phased reopening of the country from COVID-19 lockdowns, lifting restrictions on travel in and out of the capital Nairobi and allowing air travel to resume.
Kenyatta said the country has reached a reasonable level of preparedness for a partial loosening of restrictions, but urged caution and warned against reckless behaviour.
Domestic commercial and passenger flights are scheduled to restart on July 15, Kenyatta said, while international travel will resume from Aug. 1.
A barber tends to a client while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Kenya’s president announced Monday a phased reopening of the country from COVID-19 lockdowns, lifting restrictions on travel in and out of the capital Nairobi and allowing air travel to resume. (Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images)
Mosques and churches will be allowed to host services again, but for a maximum of an hour with only 100 worshippers allowed at a time.
Kenya had confirmed nearly 7,900 cases of the coronavirus as of July 6, with 160 deaths, with cases continuing to climb. On Saturday, 389 new infections were reported in the country’s biggest single-day jump.