MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th July, 2020) US President Donald Trump has notified the United Nations about Washington's official withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), after repeatedly accusing the UN agency of mishandling the coronavirus outbreak. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the meantime, expressed the belief on Tuesday that the pandemic was accelerating, with the peak yet to be reached.
According to the Johns Hopkins University, the global case count stands at 11,691,068, with the death toll amounting to 540,062, compared to Monday's 11,516,782 and 535,453, respectively.
The United States is still leading the world in both coronavirus cases and deaths, with 2.96 million confirmed cases and over 130,000 fatalities. The country is "knee-deep" in the first wave of coronavirus, which is dangerously re-surging after various localities started abandoning quarantine restrictions, top US pandemics expert Anthony Fauci said.
Brazil ranks second with over 1.62 million cases and 65,487 fatalities.
India, ranking third in terms of cases, has recorded over 22,200 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the cumulative total to 719,665. The country's COVID-19 death toll has topped 20,000 after growing by 467.
Russia has recorded 6,368 coronavirus cases in 24 hours, which brings the total to 694,230, the coronavirus response center said Tuesday.
The Chinese capital of Beijing registered no new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours for the first time since a new cluster linked to the city's major wholesale food market was discovered on June 11, Beijing's Health Commission said on Tuesday.
BOLSONARO TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he had tested positive for COVID-19, G1 news portal reported.
Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly downplayed the risk posed by the coronavirus, reportedly said he felt "normal" compared to Monday when he had a high temperature. He added he felt like having a walk but did not go out per doctors' instructions.
The WHO wished Bolsonaro a speedy recovery from COVID-19, expressing the belief that the case highlights collective vulnerability, and stressing the need for humanity to "stand in unison."
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday that a curfew would be introduced in the country again, between Friday and Monday, amid the deteriorating COVID-19 situation.
The government of Italy's autonomous community of Catalonia has obligated local residents to wear medical masks in all the locations except their homes, regardless of the possibility to maintain social distancing.
The California authorities have asked six counties in the state to shut down indoor restaurants, movie theaters, zoos and museums after a week that saw more than 55,000 novel coronavirus cases, Governor Gavin Newsom announced.
Australia's second-biggest city of Melbourne was ordered back into lockdown on Tuesday after seeing a record daily number of 191 new coronavirus cases.
The United Kingdom's economy will require a further stimulus package of 200 billion Pounds ($249.3 billion) to ensure the country's recovery from the financial disruption caused by the coronavirus disease pandemic, the Resolution Foundation think tank said in a new report on Tuesday.
The Serbian government has allocated 278 billion Serbian dinars ($2.35 billion euros) to boost the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic, President Vucic said.
The Spanish government will allocate almost 1.8 billion Euros ($2.03 billion) to assist transport companies affected by the pandemic, Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos said.
Kazakhstan has already invested over $282 million into the coronavirus response, Health Minister Alexey Tsoi said on Tuesday.
The international cooperation around the coronavirus pandemic has been remarkable and countries should consider diverting some of the COVID-19 extra funding to other public health programs, especially those combating the human immunodeficiency virus, WHO Director for Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes Meg Doherty said on Tuesday.
The European Commission proposed measures on Tuesday to increase support for the wine industry, one of the agriculture and food sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Producers will be exempt from certain European Union antitrust rules for up to six months, allowing them jointly to plan production, storage or promotional activities.
The United Nations said in a report that over 71 million people would be pushed into extreme poverty due to the pandemic, while while 250 million would be rendered at risk of acute hunger.
The Trump administration is forcing foreign students enrolled in online-only courses at US universities to leave the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed in a press release.
The head of the Israeli Health Ministry's public health care service, Sigal Sadetsky, tendered resignation on Tuesday, accusing the government of making "unsubstantiated decisions without considering long-term public health implications," the Jerusalem Post reported.
WHO experts will travel to China later in the week to prepare scientific plans for identifying the animal sources of COVID-19 and therefore pave way for gaining insight on how the disease spread from animals to humans, Tedros said on Tuesday.
The Spanish National Research Council has developed an antibodies test capable of detecting COVID-19 immunity with an accuracy of 98 percent.
The US government has awarded biotechnology firm Novavax $1.6 billion to support the development of COVID-19 vaccines by early next year, the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. Apart from that, US biotechnology company Regeneron won a $450 million contract to mass produce up to 300,000 doses of a drug to treat COVID-19, the Health and Human Services Department said.
Over 30 percent of UK nationals are unsure about getting vaccinated against COVID-19 or will definitely refuse it, a fresh poll revealed on Tuesday in light of the growing online anti-vaccine campaign.
Brazil will start on July 20 testing a Chinese vaccine against the coronavirus, Sao Paulo authorities said.
