Cases of Covid-19 are still surging - on
Saturday the World Health Organization reported more than
200 000 new cases globally of the disease for the first time in
a single day. At the same time, life is returning to normal in
many places. In England this weekend people were allowed to go
to a pub this weekend for the first time in more than three
months.
EUROPE
* Police at roadblocks warned motorists they were entering a
lockdown zone as Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia
reimposed restrictions on more than 200 000 people following
several new coronavirus outbreaks.
* People in England appear to have broadly behaved
themselves as pubs reopened this weekend, Britain's health
minister Matt Hancock said after the latest step towards a
return to normality.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* The premier of Australia's second-most populous state,
Victoria, defended his decision to put nine public housing
towers in a complete lockdown as coronavirus cases continue to
rise in Melbourne's suburbs.
* Visitors to the Taj Mahal will have to wear masks at all
times, keep their distance and not touch its glistening marble
surfaces when India's 17th-century monument to love reopens on
Monday after a three-month shutdown.
AMERICAS
* Florida and Texas, two states that have emerged as the
latest hot spots of the US coronavirus outbreak, both reported
record daily increases in confirmed Covid-19 cases on Saturday -
with nearly 20,000 additional infections combined.
* Mexico reported 523 more coronavirus deaths, pushing its
tally to 30 366, overtaking France to become the fifth-highest
in the world.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo will self-isolate for 14
days on the advice of doctors after a person in his close circle
tested positive for coronavirus, the government
said.
* Saudi Arabia's coronavirus infections have passed 200 000
and neighbouring United Arab Emirates 50 000, with the number of
new cases climbing after the Arab world's two largest economies
fully lifted curfews last month.
* Iranians who do not wear masks will be denied state
services and workplaces that fail to comply with health
protocols will be shut for a week, President Hassan Rouhani said
as he launched new measures to try to curb the
coronavirus.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was
discontinuing its trials of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine
and combination HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir in hospitalised
Covid-19 patients after they failed to reduce mortality.
* Britain is putting 8.4 million pounds ($10.49 million)
into a new study to examine the long-term effects of COVID-19 on
patients, the health ministry said.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* US President Donald Trump signed into law a deadline
extension to Aug. 8 for small businesses to apply for relief
loans under a federal aid program to help businesses hurt by the
pandemic, the White House said.
* Italy is considering fiscal measures to spur investments
in the auto and tourism industries, two of the sectors that have
been hardest hit by the pandemic, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte
said on Saturday.