Although the immediate cause differs from place to place, coronavirus’ second assault is already here – not waiting from the winter as widely predicted. The World Health Organization earlier this week declared the world a long way from safety. Global infection currently recorded stands at some 7.5 million cases and the death toll has passed 420,000.
Brazil fast-rising death toll has reach 41,828, overtaking Britain as the second highest in the world, second only to the United States.
Total coronavirus deaths in the US were close to 116,000 on Friday – far more than any other country, with hospitals reporting a shortage of intensive care beds. Some resurgent cases of the 2,09 million are accounted for by increased testing and the crowding of widespread protests, but the reopening of the economy certainly boosted a second wave of covid-19 in June.
Arizona, Utah, Texas and New Mexico all posted rises in new cases of 40 percent or higher for the week ended June 7, compared with the previous seven days. New cases rose in Florida, California, Arkansas, South Carolina and North Carolina by more than 30 percent in the past week. US President Donald Trump was under fire for scheduling his first campaign rally in Oklahoma in defiance of health guidelines against crowding.
In the UK, one in five of the 41,000 coronavirus victims is believed to have caught it in hospital. Social distancing is beginning to be enforced among staff after the “congregating” of doctors and nurses was found to be a source of coronavirus “reseeding” in the community. The UK economy has dwindled 25 percent over March and April, as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, dwarfing previous downturns. Stock markets around the world took a dive.
Brazil reported a total of 828,810 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Friday, with 25,982 new infections in the last 24 hours, and another 909 fatalities, raising the death toll to 41,828. A Brazilian labor court ordered the closure for 14 days of a chicken-processing plant owned by the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS SA, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, while the company’s workforce was tested for COVID-19.
Egypt confirmed 1,577 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily increase in almost two weeks. In all, the Arab world’s most populous country has registered 41,303 cases including 1,422 deaths, the health ministry said. Nevertheless, Egypt is planning to open its seaside resorts to international flights and foreign tourists on July 1.
Latin America, India, Pakistan and parts of Africa still appear nowhere near their first peaks and could see weeks more death and economic devastation. Even countries that thought they had vanquished the bug, such as South Korea and Israel, have found it difficult to ease restrictions without reigniting outbreaks.
Israel’s Health Ministry reported the covid-19 figures continuing to notch up in the past week, reaching 18,795 on Saturday, including 3,185 active cases and comparatively few – 34 – in hospital with 25 on ventilators. The death toll stood steady for 48 hours at 300. Thus far, air travel, the trains and entertainment industry have not been reopened, although Israel’s businesses and schools have.
According to a new study, mask-wearing has prevented thousands of infections and is even more important for curbing the virus’s spread and the sometimes deadly COVID-19 illness it causes than social distancing and stay-at-home orders. This finding was published in PNAS: The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic puts women at “heightened risk” of dying in childbirth.
