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 Single largest daily increase in cases
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record increase in
global infections on Sunday, with the total rising by 183,020 in a
24-hour period.
The biggest increase, of more than 116,000, was from North and South
America, it said in a daily report. Total global cases have passed
8.7 million with more than 461,000 deaths, the WHO added.
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.)
Beijing's efforts
Officials in the Chinese capital are running tests on tens of
thousands of food and parcel delivery workers to detect virus traces
in a bid to rein in a new outbreak, state-backed media said on
Saturday. All couriers in the city would be tested by next week,
Beijing News said.
The city is capable of screening almost 1 million people a day for
the coronavirus, an official said on Sunday. The tests are done on
multiple samples collected in one test tube, Gao Xiaojun, a
spokesman for city health authorities, told reporters.
China's customs authority said it had suspended imports of poultry
products from a plant in Springdale, Arizona owned by U.S.-based
meat processor Tyson Inc that has been hit by the virus. China has
stepped up oversight of imported foods after a new cluster of cases
was linked to a sprawling wholesale food market in its capital just
over a week ago.
Rising contagion
Germany's coronavirus reproduction rate jumped to 2.88 on Sunday, up
from 1.79 a day earlier, health authorities said, a rate that shows
infections are rising above the level needed to contain the disease
over the longer term.
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The rise strengthens prospects for renewed curbs on activity in Europe's largest
economy, which would be a blow to a country until now widely seen as successful
in reining in the spread and holding down the death toll.
Australia's second-most populous state of Victoria extended a state of emergency
for four more weeks until July 19, as it battles a spike in infections with a
pick-up in community transmission.
(To see the whole suite of interactive graphics on the coronavirus, open
https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH-GRAPHICS/0100B5CD3DP/index.html in
external browser)
Come together
International music and film stars will headline a globally televised and
streamed fundraising concert on Saturday, aiming to raise billions of dollars in
private and public donations to mitigate the pandemic's impact on marginalised
communities.
Hosted by actor Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson, the virtual concert will feature
Cyrus, Chloe x Halle, Christine and the Queens, Coldplay and Shakira besides
actors Charlize Theron and Hugh Jackman as well as retired soccer star David
Beckham.
European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen said the concert would
coincide with a pledging summit at which artists, scientists and world leaders
will "commit to helping the world end coronavirus, while leaving no one behind".
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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