By JOHN LEICESTER, ROD McGUIRK and ARNO PEDRAM
Mexico now has the third most COVID-19 deaths on this planet, behind Brazil and america, the place a hurricane bearing down on the East Coast on Saturday is threatening to complicate efforts to include the virus.
Hurricane Isaias’ imminent arrival pressured the closure of some out of doors testing websites though Florida has develop into a significant scorching spot, and different states within the path of the storm ready emergency shelters that adjust to social-distancing measures.
“We needed to put security first,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez mentioned Friday.
However Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis mentioned no instant evacuation orders have been given and that hospitals basically aren’t being evacuated of coronavirus or different sufferers.
In the meantime, Mexican well being officers on Friday reported 688 new deaths, pushing the nation’s confirmed complete to over 46,600. That put Mexico simply forward of the UK, which has greater than 46,100, based on the tally by Johns Hopkins College.
Some nations are seeing hopeful indicators: China reported a greater than 50% drop in newly confirmed circumstances in a doable indication that its newest main outbreak within the northwestern area of Xinjiang might have run its course.
Nevertheless, in Hong Kong and elsewhere, infections proceed to surge. Hong Kong reported greater than 100 new circumstances as of Saturday among the many inhabitants of seven.5 million. Officers have reimposed eating restrictions and masks necessities.
Tokyo on Saturday noticed its third day straight of file case numbers, the metropolitan authorities mentioned. Nationwide, Japan’s every day depend of circumstances totaled a file 1,579 folks Friday, the well being ministry mentioned.
And Vietnam, a former success story, is struggling to manage an outbreak spreading in its most well-known seashore resort. A 3rd individual died there of coronavirus problems, officers mentioned Saturday, a day after it recorded its first-ever loss of life because it wrestles with a renewed outbreak after 99 days with no native circumstances.
All three died in a hospital in Da Nang, a scorching spot with greater than 100 circumstances prior to now week. Hundreds of holiday makers had been within the metropolis for summer time trip and at the moment are being examined in Hanoi and elsewhere.
Twelve extra circumstances have been confirmed on Saturday, all linked to Da Nang Hospital. Officers tightened safety and arrange extra checkpoints to forestall folks from leaving or getting into the town, which has been in lockdown since Tuesday.
A makeshift hospital was arrange, and medical doctors have been mobilized from different cities to assist.
“I wish to be examined, so I can cease worrying if I’ve the virus or not,” mentioned Pham Thuy Hoa, a banking official who returned to the capital from Da Nang.
In South Korea, prosecutors arrested the aged chief of a secretive non secular sect linked to greater than 5,200 of the nation’s roughly 14,300 confirmed circumstances. He has denied expenses of hiding members and underreporting gatherings to keep away from broader quarantines.
The worldwide pandemic has affected almost each side of this yr’s Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with as few as 1,000 pilgrims already residing in Saudi Arabia participating, down from 2.5 million final yr.
Poverty introduced on by the pandemic can be making it tougher for a lot of to hitch within the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” through which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.
“I may hardly purchase meals for my household,” Somali civil servant Abdishakur Dahir mentioned. “We’re simply surviving for now. Life is getting more durable by the day.”
The Saudi Well being Ministry mentioned there have been no circumstances of COVID-19 amongst this yr’s pilgrims. All have been examined, their actions monitored with digital wristbands and required to be quarantined earlier than and after.
In the meantime, India recorded its steepest spike of 57,118 new circumstances prior to now 24 hours, taking its coronavirus caseload near 1.7 million, with July alone accounting for almost 1.1 million infections.
The nation’s Civil Aviation Ministry delayed resumption of worldwide flights by one other month till Aug. 31. However it’ll proceed to permit a number of worldwide carriers from america, Europe and the Center East to function particular flights to evacuate stranded nationals.
In France, vacationers getting into from 16 nations the place the virus is circulating broadly now should endure virus exams upon arrival at airports and ports. The nation isn’t allowing common journey to and from the nations, which embrace america and Brazil. The testing requirement due to this fact solely applies to folks getting into underneath restricted circumstances, together with French residents who dwell in these nations. Those that check optimistic as of Saturday should quarantine for 14 days.
As autumn approaches, nations all over the world are grappling with safely reopen faculties.
A scientist advising the British authorities on the coronavirus pandemic says pubs in England might should be closed to permit faculties to reopen in September. Graham Medley, a member of the federal government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, informed the BBC that there might should be a “commerce off.”
In Utah, the Salt Lake Metropolis Faculty District Board of Schooling introduced that its faculties will begin the yr with all online-only lessons in response to an growing variety of confirmed circumstances within the metropolis. Simply days after public faculties round Indiana reopened their doorways, at the very least one scholar and one college workers member in districts round Indianapolis have examined optimistic for the virus.
The controversy over college openings got here as Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed a tweet by President Donald Trump claiming the U.S. international lead in coronavirus circumstances is due to elevated testing.
Fauci mentioned the size of the U.S. outbreak is the results of a number of components, together with some states opening up too shortly and disregarding federal pointers.
On Friday, the top of the World Well being Group predicted the results of the pandemic might be felt for “a long time to return.”
“A lot of the world’s folks stay vulnerable to this virus, even in areas which have skilled extreme outbreaks,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mentioned in London. “Though vaccine improvement is going on at file pace, we should be taught to dwell with this virus.”
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Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France and McGuirk from Canberra, Australia. AP journalists all over the world contributed to this report.
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Observe AP’s pandemic protection at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak