The number of COVID-19 infections around the world has passed the 10 million mark, with nearly 500,000 deaths, Johns Hopkins University reported Sunday.
World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently posted on Twitter as the ten million milestone approached: “This is a sober reminder that even as we continue [research and development] into vaccines & therapeutics, we have an urgent responsibility to do everything we can with the tools we have now to suppress transmission & save lives”
The U.S. continues to lead the world in reported infections, with more than 2.5 million and more than 125,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Five U.S. states reported record-breaking daily numbers of new coronavirus cases Saturday. Florida reported 9,585 new cases, while Georgia had 1,990 new cases. South Carolina had 1,604. Arizona reported 3,591 new infections, while Nevada reported 1,099. The states’ record-breaking days of infections highlight the spread of the disease in several Southern and Western states.
Coronavirus cases are also surging in Texas, where more than 5,700 new cases were reported Saturday, and 42 more deaths brought the state’s total to nearly 2,400. The state’s governor, Greg Abbott, has again scaled back restaurant dining and shut bars.
President Donald Trump received a lot of criticism recently for a campaign rally he held on June 20 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without any social-distancing requirements in place.
News reports say employees of the BOK Center, where the rally was held, had begun placing “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers on every other seat in the venue when the facility received instructions from the president’s campaign staff to remove the stickers from the seats, just hours before the beginning of the rally. The Washington Post reported the BOK Center management had bought 12,000 stickers for the rally in an effort to keep people apart, a standard practice used to avoid the spread of the coronavirus in public places.
The Post placed video on its site of two unidentified men removing the stickers from the arena’s seats.
Billboard magazine was the first outlet Friday to report the Trump campaign wanted the labels removed from the seats.
Vice President Mike Pence will go ahead with a campaign event Sunday in Dallas, Texas, where he will attend a “Celebrate Freedom Rally” at First Baptist Church Dallas and then meet with Abbott.
Pence has canceled similar events in Tucson, Arizona, and Florida. At a briefing by the White House’s coronavirus task force Friday, the vice president said he would be visiting the three states for a “ground report” on the spiking cases. The coronavirus task force public briefing was the first in nearly two months; the president did not attend.
Across Latin America, the number of cases has passed 2 million, the Pan American Health Organization said. Colombia reported 4,149 new cases Saturday, the third time in a week it has seen a new single-day high of new cases. Colombia now has 88,591 total cases, a number higher than the total reported by China, 84,726. Brazil surged to more than 1.3 million infections, second only to the U.S.
A troubling rise in infections was also reported in India, where the Times of India said the South Asian nation recorded 18,552 new COVID-19 cases Saturday, surpassing Friday’s record of 17,296.
In South Korea, new clusters are popping up in Seoul, where hundreds of infections have been traced to churches, night spots and restaurants.
And Indonesia reported its biggest daily increase in coronavirus infections with 1,385 new cases, taking the total to 52,812, a health ministry official said.
But Italy – one of the worst-hit countries early in the pandemic – appears to be moving in the opposite direction. Officials on Saturday reported 175 new infections and just eight deaths, its lowest single-day total since March 1.
VOA
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