Total worldwide COVID-19 cases have reached 23,640,721 with 813,486 deaths as of 11pm today.
Some 172 countries are engaging with the WHO-led COVAX plan designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said, but more funding is urgently needed and countries should now make binding commitments.
Europe
Staff and students have been told to self-isolate for 14 days after 22 cases of COVID-19 were detected at a school in Dundee, Scotland, according to a joint statement from the local health authority, NHS Tayside, and Dundee City Council on Sunday.
Marseille, a popular tourist city on France’s southern coast, has seen a spike in positive coronavirus cases. French authorities have dispatched police to enforce coronavirus regulations.
Germany continues to grapple with a steady rise in infections, with 711 new cases reported on Monday, according to the Robert-Koch-Institute.
France reported its highest increase in case numbers since exiting lockdown, with 4,897 new cases reported Sunday by national health agency Santé Publique France. This takes the total number of cases to 242,899. A naturist resort on France’s Mediterranean coast has seen a sharp spike in infections and nudists have been ordered to at least wear masks and practice social distancing, according to health authorities. Tests had shown a 30 per cent infection rate in people who had visited Village Cap d’Agde – which advertises itself as a village for naturists and libertines – the Occitanie region health authority said.
French authorities will in coming days reciprocate the United Kingdom’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France, the junior minister for European affairs said.
Infections in France are approaching the threshold at which Switzerland would demand visitors from there to quarantine for 10 days, the Tribune de Geneve reported Monday.
Finland will tighten restrictions on public gatherings from September, limiting them to 50 people unless further measures are in place, due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases, authorities said.
Italy recorded another 1,210 cases Sunday, the highest number of new cases since 12th May, in addition to 1,071 cases on Saturday. An Italian hospital has injected a first volunteer with an anti-COVID-19 vaccine as part of human trials expected to last six months. The woman, in her 50s, received the first dose developed by Rome-based biotech company ReiThera at the capital’s Spallanzani Institute for infectious diseases.
Greek teachers and students will be required to wear masks in class and indoor spaces when schools reopen in September due to a surge in infections, said the country’s education minister.
U.S. and Canada
Stocks are set for a sharp rally on Monday after the Trump administration approved a potential COVID-19 treatment. With Wall Street in the green, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite could reach new all-time highs.
On 30th July, during broader negotiations over the coronavirus relief legislation inside Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, Sen. Chuck Schumer asked the White House officials in the room how things were going on the vaccine effort, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
Moderna said it plans to provide 80 million doses of its experimental coronavirus shot to the EU.
Central and Latin America
More than 30 million students return to school in Mexico today. They will not be returning to the classroom, however, after the Mexican government announced earlier this month that all classes will be virtual. Mexico has reported 226 more deaths from the coronavirus, finishing the week with 3,723 fatalities, the lowest total in over two months, according to government figures.
China and Hong Kong
Residents in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region have complained on social media about the harsh coronavirus lockdown measures in the sensitive region after a local outbreak.
Hong Kong reported seven local coronavirus cases, of which four are of unknown origin, Department of Health official Chuang Shuk-kwan said at a briefing.
Elsewhere in the world
Almost 2,000 schools in South Korea have suspended in-person classes due to the latest surge of coronavirus cases, according to a statement from the country’s Ministry of Education on Monday.
Israel’s Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano, a member of the Blue and White political party, tested positive for coronavirus.
The Indonesian island of Bali will remain closed to foreign visitors for the rest of 2020 after authorities postponed a plan to welcome back international tourists from 11th September as the coronavirus continues to spread. Indonesia has secured a supply of up to 60 million doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines from China and the United Arab Emirates, officials said.
The Philippine education department reported that at least 311 teachers and 268 students have been infected with the coronavirus.
Russia reported 4,744 new coronavirus cases, pushing its confirmed infection tally to 961,493, the fourth-largest in the world. Russian authorities may this week announce the resumption of international flights to France, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus, Jordan, Egypt and China’s Shanghai, the Izvestia newspaper cited unnamed airport and airline sources as saying.
Japan marked one year to go until the opening ceremony of the delayed Paralympic Games in Tokyo, though the coronavirus pandemic has created uncertainty for the event.
South Korea has no choice but to raise social distancing measures to the highest level if the coronavirus spread isn’t contained with current restrictions, President Moon Jae-in said in a meeting with his secretaries, according to the presidential website.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is back at work filming India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire following a bout of COVID-19.
In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar, nearly one in five people being treated for medical conditions have a form of lung disease, according to a new report, making them vulnerable to coronavirus as it spreads in the camp where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar live.
Singapore reported 51 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Monday, taking the national tally to 56,404.
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