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Coronavirus: What’s happening around the world on Sunday
Here’s what’s happening with COVID-19 around the world on Saturday as coronavirus case numbers top 8.7 million.It’s been 100 days of COVID-19 quarantine in Canada. What will you remember? 5:29The latest: Should I worry who I let into my social bubble? Your COVID-19 questions answered Canada-U.S. border rules and restrictions during the pandemic explained. Is…
Here's what's happening with COVID-19 around the world on Saturday as coronavirus case numbers top 8.7 million.
It’s been 100 days of COVID-19 quarantine in Canada. What will you remember? 5:29
The latest:
- Should I worry who I let into my social bubble? Your COVID-19 questions answered
- Canada-U.S. border rules and restrictions during the pandemic explained.
- Is it safe to have sex during COVID-19?
- 6 Trump staffers at Tulsa, Okla., rally test positive for coronavirus.
- South Africa reports nearly 4,000 new cases of coronavirus.
- Brazil surpasses 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases.
- Scientists aren't waiting around for governments to launch antibody testing.
- COVID-19 is worse than a bad flu season, despite online claims to the contrary.
China and South Korea reported new coronavirus cases Sunday in outbreaks that threatened to set back their recovery, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he told his government to reduce U.S. testing to avoid unflattering statistics showing rising infections.
Chinese authorities reported 25 new confirmed cases — 22 in Beijing and three in neighbouring Hebei province. It said 2.3 million people have been tested in an effort to contain the outbreak in the capital that led to the closure of its biggest wholesale food market.
In South Korea, authorities reported 48 new cases. Half were in the capital, Seoul. Ten were in the central city of Daejong, suggesting the virus was spreading more widely as anti-disease measures are relaxed.
The head of the World Health Organization warned Friday the virus's global spread was accelerating after a daily high of 150,000 new cases was reported the previous day.
The new coronavirus has killed more than 454,000 people and infected more than 8.5 million, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The true number is thought to be much higher because many cases go untested.
WATCH | Infectious disease specialist on what we've learned about COVID-19
Dr. Michael Gardam, chief of staff for Humber River Hospital in Toronto, says it's tough trying to reopen and remain safe: ‘We're all figuring this thing out as we go.' 7:08
At a campaign rally, Trump said Saturday he has told his administration to slow down virus testing. He said the United States has tested 25 million people, but the “bad part” is that found more cases.
“When you do testing to that extent, you're going to find more people, you're going to find more cases,” Trump said in Tulsa, Okla. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.'”
The campaign of his likely Democratic rival in November's presidential election, former vice-president Joe Biden, accused Trump in a statement of “putting politics ahead of the safety and economic well-being of the American people.”
WATCH | Trump supporter in Tulsa says she had COVID-19:
Jennifer Helterbrand says she was sick for 16 days but is not going to ‘live in fear' 1:18
Some governments including Spain, Britain and France are relaxing controls and reviving business activity. But case numbers are rising in South Africa, Brazil, the United States and some other countries.
Brazil's Health Ministry said Saturday the total number of cases had risen by more than 50,000 from the previous day. President Jair Bolsonaro is downplaying the risks despite nearly 50,000 fatalities in three months.
South Africa reported a one-day high of 4,966 new cases on Saturday and 46 deaths. Despite the increase, President Cyril Ramaphosa this week announced a further loosening of one of the world's strictest lockdowns. Casinos, beauty salons and sit-down restaurant service will be allowed to reopen.
Thousands of new infections in Arizona
In the United States, the state of Arizona reported 3,109 new infections, just short of Friday's record, and 26 deaths. The state of Nevada also reported a new high of 445 cases.
The outbreak has killed about 120,000 people in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins.
China, where the outbreak began in December, and South Korea, the second country to report a spike in infections, had eased controls on travel and business as new cases fell. They have reimposed monitoring and some other restrictions following their recent jump in infections.
The Beijing health commission gave no details of where the latest cases might have originated. The Chinese capital's biggest wholesale food market was closed June 13 after dozens of people who worked there tested positive.
The agency in charge of the Ming Tombs, a tourist site northwest of Beijing, said indoor areas will be closed as a safety precaution. Visitors are allowed in outdoor areas but are required to wear masks and be checked for fever.
In South Korea, nearly 200 infections have been traced to employees at a door-to-door sales company in Seoul, which mostly hired people over 60, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 70 infections have been linked to a table tennis club in Seoul whose members also passed the virus at a church.
South Korean officials are reluctant to enforce stronger social-distancing to avoid hurting the fragile economy.
In Middle East, the Palestinian Authority reimposed restrictions in the West Bank after 86 people tested positive on Saturday. Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced access to the city of Hebron was suspended and residents put under a five-day curfew. Another city, Nablus, is to be isolated for two days.
In Europe, Germany reported 687 new cases, its highest one-day toll in a month, after earlier managing the outbreak better than comparable large European nations.
Spain dropped a 14-day quarantine requirement for British visitors effective Sunday. British travellers provide a big part of Spain's tourism sector, which has been especially hard-hit.
What's happening in Canada
As of 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Canada had 101,019 confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, with 63,488 of the cases considered recovered or resolved. A CBC News tally of deaths based on provincial information, regional health data and CBC's reporting stood at 8,455.
Quebec and Ontario continue to lead other provinces and territories for having the highest daily counts of confirmed infections.
WATCH | Canada surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 cases:
Ontario added 206 new cases on Saturday for a total of more than 33,300. Quebec recorded 124 cases, bringing the province's total to more than 54,600.
All regions of Ontario except for Toronto, Peel and Windsor-Essex entered Stage 2 of the province's phased reopening plan on Friday.
The second stage includes restaurant patios, hair salons and swimming pools. Child-care centres across Ontario can also reopen.
Quebec's finance minister says the pandemic has hit the province hard. Eric Girard delivered an economic update Friday, showing a return to multibillion-dollar deficits.
Just three months ago, he delivered a balanced budget, thanks to a stronger economy and better employment numbers than Quebec had seen in a generation.
Now, gone is his $1.9-billion surplus, spent on measures to keep the economy and private businesses afloat.
- Provincial COVID-19 travel restrictions remain in the east and north
- ‘It matters to families': Canada does not keep track of probable cases of COVID-19
- Couple arrives on repatriation flight from Peru after weeks of uncertainty
- Choirs reimagine themselves as singing proves an effective way to spread COVID-19
- Via Rail makes wearing a mask mandatory on all trains
- Sask. nurse considers home-schooling after province releases plan to resume fall classes
- Engaged Canadian-American couples kept apart despite new exemption for cross-border families
- Ontario reports more than 200 new cases of COVID-19 for 1st time in 6 days
- U-pick farms in Quebec allowed to open, but other farm activities remain off limits
- N.B.'s plan for COVID-19 contact-tracing app denied by Ottawa
- Nova Scotians hit the beach on the first weekend since the bubble burst
- As N.B., N.S. discuss opening to the whole country, P.E.I. has cold feet
- N.L. reports no active cases of COVID-19 for 3rd straight day, despite a positive test result
- Yellowknife woman offers to help care for grave sites during COVID-19
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