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Brazil surpasses 60,000 deaths from the virus after recording more than 1,000 fatalities over the last 24 hours, the country’s health ministry said.
- The United Nations Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution demanding an “immediate cessation of hostilities” for at least 90 days in key conflicts including Syria, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan and Congo to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
- Italy’s hard-hit northern region of Lombardy accounted for considerably more than half of the nation’s latest confirmed 187 coronavirus cases – raising the total to 240,760 nationwide. The Ministry of Health also reported 21 new deaths, raising to 34,788 the total of known deaths.
- Close to 10.7 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, over 5.6 million have recovered, and more than 516,000 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates.
Thursday, July 2
17:26 GMT – “Very little risk” that pets can infect owners
There is ‘very little risk’ that pets can infect their owners with COVID-19, the chief scientist of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, told a Geneva news conference that felines, ferrets and “even tigers” have been infected with the disease.
“There is very little risk from domestic animals because there was some concern about domestic animals becoming a source of infection,” she said.
16:45 GMT – Florida reports surge in daily cases
Florida has reported 10,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases for the first time.
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That daily number is six times higher than the daily record less than a month ago. The state also reported 67 deaths for the second time in a week.
The seven-day average for daily deaths is now back over 40, a 30 percent increase from two weeks ago. The state’s death rate peaked at 60 per day in early May and declined to 30 by mid-June.
16:30 GMT – Swiss restrict entry from 29 countries
Travellers to Switzerland from 29 countries will from July 6 have to register with the authorities and go into self-isolation to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus, the government said.
The list includes the United States, Sweden, Brazil and Russia, which have been designated as countries with a high risk of infection.
Visitors who have spent time in the named countries in the previous 14 days must notify the Swiss authorities immediately on arrival and then go into quarantine for 10 days, the government said.
15:45 GMT – Airbus chief says can save 3,500 jobs if Berlin, Paris offer handouts
European aircraft builder Airbus said it could save up to 3,500 jobs in Germany and France if government help is forthcoming, out of 15,000 layoffs planned worldwide over the coronavirus’ impact.
“We could preserve up to 500 jobs if the German government supported us via its programme to develop hydrogen drive for planes. Prolonging shorter hours schemes to 24 months could save 1,500 more,” chief executive Guillaume Faury told news weekly Der Spiegel, adding that 1,500 posts could also be saved in France.
15:00 GMT – Brazil tops 60,000 deaths
Brazil surpassed 60,000 coronavirus deaths, the Ministry of Health said, citing a recent wave of contamination in southern and midwestern areas of the country.
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A total of 1,038 additional deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of fatalities to 60,632, the ministry said.
The number of deaths in the south and the midwest regions grew by 37 percent and 36 percent, respectively, in the epidemiological week ended last Saturday, the ministry added, in contrast to setbacks seen in the North and Southeast and a trend of stability in the Northeast.
14:20 GMT – Serbia reports new spike of coronavirus cases
Serbia reported 359 new coronavirus infections and six deaths, marking a new spike within a persistent upward trend which has forced the return of some restrictions on public life.
The country had seemed to be on the verge of bringing the Covid-19 epidemic to a close, with the number of new cases in the low double-digits in late May and early June.
This week the authorities reimposed a ban on large gatherings and required residents to wear masks in public transport and enclosed areas [Marko Djurica/Reuters]But since then new outbreaks have hit Belgrade and the town of Novi Pazar, where the health care system quickly became overwhelmed.
Infection numbers began to rise after the government fully relaxed restrictions, even becoming the first European country to allow spectators at football matches, with one game drawing a crowd of more than 20,000 people.
13:40 GMT – Britain will ease coronavirus quarantine for some countries
Britain will be easing the quarantine measures for air travellers, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding that more details of plan will be released this week.
“As we set out earlier this week … we will be easing health measures at the border by allowing passengers arriving from specific countries and territories to be exempted from self-isolation requirements,” the spokesman told reporters, adding that the details would come this week.
The government said on Friday it would ditch a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving from countries it deems to be lower risk for COVID-19, but has as yet not listed the countries that would include.
12:25 GMT – Novak and Jelena Djokovic test negative
Tennis player Novak Djokovic and his wife, Jelena, have tested negative for the coronavirus ten days after announcing they had contracted the disease.
“Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena are negative for COVID-19. That was shown by the results of the PCR tests that both had in Belgrade,” his media team said in a statement.
The top-ranked player tested positive for the virus after playing in an exhibition series he organised in Serbia and Croatia amid the pandemic.
Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki also contracted the virus after playing in the same matches.
12:10 GMT – Ireland: Masks to become mandatory
People in Ireland will have to wear face coverings in shops starting from July 10, says Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
11:36 GMT – Africa lost almost $55bn in travel and tourism: AU
African countries have lost almost $55bn in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the pandemic, the African Union commissioner for infrastructure and energy has said.
Amani Abou-Zeid told a news conference the air industry will be greatly affected, adding that: “Some airlines in the continent will not make it post-COVID-19.”
11:07 GMT – New infection spike in Japan’s capital
Tokyo has confirmed 107 new coronavirus infections, its highest daily tally in two months, but Japan’s chief cabinet secretary has said there is no need to reintroduce a state of emergency.
“It’s really unpleasant that it is increasing somewhat. I’d like to ask all Tokyo residents and everyone at businesses for their cooperation to prevent that,” said the city’s Governor Yuriko Koike.
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10:44 GMT – England plans to reopen schools
UK Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson has unveiled his plan to reopen schools to all pupils in September.
Among other measures, students will be divided into separate groups, known as “bubbles”, to limit contact and to better isolate new infections. Schools should consider asking pupils in different bubbles to follow separate start and finish times but break times and free periods may be cut to ensure this does not reduce teaching time.
At present, only some students in certain year groups and the children of key workers are at school.
10:28 GMT – Israel reports highest daily rise
Israel has recorded 966 new cases, the highest single-day spike since the virus was first detected on February 21.
As the number of active cases surged to 8,647 in recent days, after it dropped below 2,000 last month, the country’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said last week that the country was experiencing a second wave of the pandemic and that he would have imposed new restricting measures.
So far, the country registered 26,452 infections, including 324 deaths.
10:00 GMT – Saudi Arabia extends economic aid
In an effort to cushion the economic effect of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia has extended for an additional period several government initiatives to support the private sector and investors.
The news was reported by state news agency SPA, citing a decision by King Salman.
09:36 GMT – China urged to ramp up testing capacity
China’s local governments and medical institutes should ramp up and reserve coronavirus testing capacity in preparation for increased demand amid potential outbreaks, the National Health Commission has said in a guideline published on its website.
Nucleic acid test results should be delivered within six hours for patients at fever clinics and within a day for those who volunteer to be tested, according to the guideline.
09:07 GMT – Indonesia reports record daily jump
With 1,624 cases in the past 24 hours, Indonesia reported its biggest jump in daily infections, says health ministry official Achmad Yurianto.
This brings the total number of cases to 59,394. The country also reported 53 new deaths, taking the cumulative death toll to 2,987.
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08:40 GMT – Non-COVID-19 related deaths spike in Indian city
A spike in non-coronavirus related deaths in the Indian city of Ahmedabad highlights the effect of the pandemic on general healthcare, doctors warn.
The rise in the number of deaths in the most populous city in western Gujarat state is due to patients with serious illnesses either not able to go to hospitals or being afraid to visit them because of the virus, doctors said.
