Coronavirus world round-up: Brazil's daily death toll highest in world
Brazil's death toll highest in world for fifth straight day
Brazil reported the highest daily Covid-19 death toll in the world on Tuesday with 1,039 people killed, the fifth straight day the country has topped the list.
Latin America's largest country, which has emerged as a new epicenter in the pandemic, has seen its daily death toll surge past that of the US, the hardest-hit country so far.
The US recorded a death toll of 657 in the past 24 hours, said the Johns Hopkins University tracker. That was the third day in a row it had come in under 700, bringing the country's overall toll to 98,875 deaths.
Meanwhile, Brazil's daily death toll has passed 1,000 four times since the pandemic accelerated in the country a week ago. Brazil has now confirmed a total of 24,512 deaths, according to health ministry figures.
Experts say under-testing means the real number is probably much higher.
Trump open to lifting his European flight ban
Donald Trump has left open the prospect of his flight ban from Europe being lifted as he said countries in the continent were being monitored for progress against coronavirus.
The US president initially barred flights from 26 European countries back in March in one of his early moves to counter the Covid-19 outbreak, later adding the UK and Ireland to the list.
The ban remains in place, blocking foreign tourists or businessmen travelling to America from Europe, though US citizens and legal residents are allowed to fly home.
Mr Trump was asked on Tuesday whether he is considering lifting the flight ban in the coming weeks, given signs that travel between some European countries is picking up.
The announcement came as Mr Trump said he remains committed to holding a Fourth of July celebration in the nation's capital even as Democratic lawmakers from the region - one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus - warn that the area will not be ready to hold a major event.
Biden: Trump a 'fool' for mocking mask
Joe Biden has attacked President Donald Trump as an "absolute fool" for belittling his election rival over recently wearing a mask.
Mr Trump retweeted a photograph of Mr Biden and an accompanying message that mocked the former vice president for wearing a mask at a Memorial Day ceremony.
"He's a fool, an absolute fool, to talk that way," Mr Biden told CNN. "Every leading doc in the world is saying you should wear a mask when you're in a crowd."
Asked whether wearing a mask projected weakness or strength, Mr Biden chose a different description.
"It presents and projects as leadership," Mr Biden said. "Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine."
"This macho stuff," Mr Biden added, has "cost people's lives".
Venezuela death toll of 10 'is absurd'
Venezuela's low case count and death toll from the coronavirus are likely false and could in fact be thousands of times higher than official figures, according to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Johns Hopkins University.
President Nicolas Maduro's government has reported 10 Covid-19 deaths out of 1,121 cases in a country of 30 million people, numbers a report from the HRW and Johns Hopkins calls "absurd".
"We believe the data - the statistics that the Venezuelan government give, Maduro's statistics - are absolutely absurd and are not credible," HRW director for the Americas Jose Miguel Vivanco said. The idea of so few cases and deaths "in a country where doctors don't have water to even wash their hands" and "the health system is totally collapsing" strains credibility, he said.
The true number could be closer to "at least 30,000" coronavirus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
Chile's intensive care units at 95pc capacity
Intensive care units in Chile's hospitals are nearly at capacity amid a flood of coronavirus patients, authorities said on Tuesday, and doctors are having to make wrenching choices over which patients should get available beds.
Health officials said 95 per cent of the country's 2,400 ICU beds are occupied even after a doubling of capacity from the levels in March. They announced plans to add 400 more critical care beds in the coming days.
"This is an extraordinarily difficult time," Health Minister Jaime Manalich said.
What you might have missed
President Vladimir Putin says Russia has now passed the peak of infections and tells his defence minister to prepare a postponed World War II victory commemoration parade in June
The New York Stock Exchange, the symbolic heart of Wall Street in the United States, reopens its floor after a two-month closure, with some 80 traders donning masks and separated by glass screens
Iconic sites around the world begin opening again to visitors, including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the ruins of ancient Pompeii in Italy. Saudi Arabia says it will end its nationwide curfew from June 21, except in the holy city of Mecca
Emmanuel Macron announced a plan worth €8 billion euros (about £7.1 billion) to revive France's auto industry by making it the European leader in electric cars, boosting a sector brought to its knees by the coronavirus
Latin America's largest airline LATAM becomes the latest global air carrier to file for bankruptcy
Spain is to hold 10 days of official mourning from Wednesday for victims of the epidemic that has so far claimed more than 27,000 lives.
