A worker disinfects as a precaution against the coronavirus on a street in Goyang, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Coronavirus Global Updates: Over 23.65 million cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in more than 210 countries across the world, according to a Reuters tally. Nearly 811,895 people have succumbed to the disease. Over 15 million people have recovered from the infection.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that the COVID-19 pandemic is still expanding, but the rise in cases and deaths has slowed globally, except for Southeast Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions.

In its latest epidemiological update issued on Monday, the WHO said that the Americas remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for half of the newly reported cases and 62 per cent of the 39,240 deaths worldwide in the past week.

“Over 1.7 million new COVID-19 cases and 39,000 new deaths were reported to WHO for the week ending 23 August, a 4% decrease in the number of cases and (a 12% decrease) in the number of deaths compared to the previous week,” the WHO said.

Southeast Asia, the second most affected region, reported a jump accounting for 28 per cent of new cases and 15 per cent of deaths, it said. India continues to report majority of the cases, but the virus is also spreading rapidly in Nepal.

Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan reported the highest increase in cases compared to the previous week, the WHO said. “In the European region, the number of cases reported has consistently increased over the last three weeks,” it added.

Here are the top developments from across the world:

British PM Johnson to consider masks at schools

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his government is ready to advise high school students in England to wear face masks in some contexts if the medical evidence deems it necessary in containing the spread of the coronavirus. Schools in England are due to reopen in the upcoming weeks.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

His government, which oversees schools in England, has come under increasing pressure to change its advice on masks in certain school settings following the decision by the Scottish government to require students over 12 to wear masks. Johnson says if “we need to change the advice then of course we will”.

Spanish Prime Minister offers military for contact tracing

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has offered officials running the countrys 17 regions help from the military to conduct coronavirus contact tracing. He has pledged to declare regional emergency orders if the expansion of the pandemic continues facilitating regional officials ability to issue lockdowns and restrict mobility.

Sanchez said the infection rate is preoccupying but called it far from the situation in mid-March when the government imposed a state of emergency.

Spain is grappling to control transmission of the virus with a new wave hitting the country only days before the opening of the school year. Sanchez encouraged Spaniards to download a contact tracing mobile app that the government is rolling out.

Hong Kong to ease social distancing norms later this week

Hong Kong will ease some social distancing measures later this week, allowing beauty salons and cinemas to reopen and relaxing an evening dine-in ban as daily coronavirus infections in the city dwindled.

Restaurants, now banned from providing dine-in services after 6 pm, will be allowed to serve customers until 9 pm starting Friday. Businesses such as cinemas, beauty salons, and some outdoor sports venues will be allowed to reopen and residents will no longer be required to wear masks when exercising outdoors or while in country parks.

Gaza in lockdown to try to contain its first COVID-19 outbreak

A lockdown took hold in Gaza on Tuesday after confirmation of the first cases of COVID-19 in the general population of the Palestinian enclave, whose restricted borders have spared it from wide infection.

Health authorities in the Hamas Islamist-run territory of two million people are concerned over the potentially disastrous combination of poverty, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital facilities in dealing with an outbreak.

A government spokesman said four cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in a single family in a refugee camp, the first in Gaza that did not involve people quarantined in border facilities after crossing into the coastal enclave from Egypt and Israel.

AstraZeneca begins COVID-19 dual-use antibody drug trial in UK

UK-headquartered biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca on Tuesday announced the start of clinical trials for an antibody drug which offers dual hope to treat and prevent COVID-19.

The drug known as AZD7442 has the potential to be given as a preventative option for people exposed to the coronavirus, and to treat and prevent disease progression in patients already infected by the deadly virus.

The Cambridge-based British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca, which is also working with the University of Oxford on a vaccine to combat the coronavirus, said the drug is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and the first participants have been dosed with it for the Phase I trial.

Orthodox nuns carry candles and bouquets of flowers and basil as they walk in a procession in Jerusalem’s Old City to bring the icon of the Virgin Mary from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to the tomb where she is believed to be buried, early Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Two European patients re-infected with coronavirus

Two European patients are confirmed to have been re-infected with the coronavirus, according to regional public broadcasters, raising concerns about people’s immunity to the virus as the world struggles to tame the pandemic, Reuters reported.

The news follows a report this week by researchers in Hong Kong about a man there who had been re-infected four and a half months after being declared recovered. That has fuelled fears about the effectiveness of potential vaccines against the virus, though experts say there would need to be many more cases of re-infection for these to be justified.

Broadcasters said on Tuesday a patient in the Netherlands and another in Belgium had also been re-infected with the virus that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide and crippled the global economy.

Germany on ‘road to recovery’ as business morale brightens further

German business morale improved more than expected in August as both manufacturing and services picked up steam, a survey showed on Tuesday, boosting hopes that Europe’s largest economy is set for a strong recovery following the massive coronavirus shock.

The Ifo institute said its business climate index rose to 92.6 from a downwardly revised 90.4 in July. This was the fourth monthly increase in a row and came in better than economists’ expectations for 92.2.

Government officials and volunteers disinfect as a precaution against the coronavirus at a subway station entrance in Goyang, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. South Korea is closing schools and switching back to remote learning in the greater capital area as the country counted its 12th straight day of triple-digit daily increases in coronavirus cases. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Indonesia records over 2,400 new COVID-19 cases

Indonesia reported 2,447 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 157,859, data from the country’s Covid-19 taskforce showed, Reuters reported.

Ninety-nine additional deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 6,858, the highest coronavirus death toll in Southeast Asia.

We have to make this ‘Chinese Virus’ go away: Donald Trump

Americans have to “make this China virus go away” and it is happening, US president Donald Trump said, as he thanked the frontline workers for their incredible efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump appeared in a taped Oval Office conversation with a group of frontline workers – doctors, nurses, firemen, policemen, postal workers.

However, this was not the first time Trump called the novel coronavirus as China’s virus. In March, he had said that China is responsible for the spread of the novel coronavirus and called it the “Chinese Virus”. He later insisted the term was accurate because the virus originated in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The United States has reported over 5 million confirmed cases of coronavirus and at least 170,000 deaths so far.

South Korea closes schools again amid spike in cases

South Korea is closing schools and switching back to remote learning in the greater capital area as the country reported triple-digit daily increase in coronavirus cases for the 12th straight day, the Associated Press reported.

Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said Tuesday that at least 193 students and teachers were found infected with the virus over the past two weeks in the Seoul metropolitan region, where a viral surge has threatened to erase the country’s hard-won epidemiological gains.

Yoo said most children at kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools will receive online classes at least until September 11. High school seniors will continue to go to school so their studies are not disrupted ahead of the crucial national college exams.

South Korea’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported 280 new cases of COVID-19, pushing the 12-day total to 3,175. The country now has 17,945 confirmed cases so far, including 310 deaths.

South Korea has since Sunday banned large gatherings, shut down nightspots and churches and removed fans from professional sports nationwide. Officials say the country could be forced to elevate social distancing restrictions if the virus doesn’t slow later this week.

A worker disinfects as a precaution against the coronavirus on a street in Goyang, South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. (AP Photo)

Virus tests for students returning to Beijing universities

Beijing universities are preparing to administer virus tests to students returning to the city’s campuses, the Associated Press reported.

The cost of testing all 600,000 students will be born by the universities themselves, according to the Beijing Municipal Education Commission.

University classes are scheduled to begin Sept 9. Approximately 75 per cent of Chinese students in lower grades returned to class by last month, many on staggered schedules. The rest are expected to return by this week or on Sept 1.

China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday reported no local infections for the ninth straight day and said 14 new cases have been detected in travelers arriving from abroad.

Workers take delivery of supplies in Beijing on Aug. 20, 2020. (AP Photo)

New school year begins in Mexico

The Mexican government Monday attempted to start a new school year despite the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, as millions of school children returned to classes but not schools, reported the Associated Press.

The government enlisted the country’s largest private television companies to dedicate channels to school programming around the clock. Education officials developed schedules giving students at various levels multiple opportunities to watch their classes.

Education Secretary Esteban Moctezuma said officials decided to rely on television because it has a far greater penetration than the internet.

Denisse Leal dispenses alcohol gel to a commuter as she and her husband Mario Diaz ride a subway car in Santiago, Chile, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. (AP Photo)

Spain imposes new restrictions to curb virus spread

Some Spanish regions Monday moved to impose new measures such as bans on large social gatherings in order to curb the spread of the pandemic, fearing an even sharper surge in coronavirus infections with the opening of the school year in September, the Associated Press reported.

On Monday, when Spain’s Ministry of Health reported figures for the previous three days, the country added over 19,000 cases to its tally of more than 4,00,000 since the beginning of the epidemic. The figure is the highest in Europe.

Dr Fernando Simon, the epidemiology expert in charge of Spain’s coronavirus response, admitted that contagion with no clear source of infection was now widespread in the country.

“There is a certain level of community transmission in Spain, but in some regions is more than in others. The return to school os an opportunity for easier transmission of the virus,” he said at a press conference.

The Health Ministry saud that 2,060 of the new cases were diagnosed in the past 24 hours, with 34 new deaths, pushing the total death toll to 28,838.

The Catalonia region Monday announced it was extending a ban on social gatherings of more than 10 people to the region’s 7.6 million inhabitants while Murcia, in the country’s southern coast with 1.5 million residents, restricted gatherings to a maximum of six people.

Coronavirus restrictions further eased in New York

Coronavirus restrictions were cautiously eased in New York on Monday, allowing museums across New York and gyms in some parts of the state outside of New York City to reopen, the Associated Press reported.

Museums will face restrictions including timed ticketing and 25 per cent occupancy, according to guidelines announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

NYC museums that will open over the next few weeks include the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Aug. 29 and the American Museum of Natural History on September 9.

While Cuomo said gyms and fitness centers could open at 33 per cent capacity from Monday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city’s gyms would stay closed until at least September 2.

State health officials have reported an infection rate below 1 per cent every day for over than two weeks.

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