Coronavirus world round-up: cases soar in major countries as WHO says pandemic 'accelerating'
Coronavirus cases are soaring in several major countries at the same time, with "worrying increases" in Latin America, especially Brazil, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Despite Europe easing its lockdowns in recent weeks, many parts of the world, including Latin America and South Asia, are only just beginning to feel the full force of the pandemic.
"The pandemic is still accelerating," the WHO's director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual health forum organised in the United Arab Emirates.
Dr Tedros said the greatest threat was not the virus itself, which has now killed over 470,000 people, but "the lack of global solidarity and global leadership".
"The politicisation of the pandemic has exacerbated it," he added.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is one of the leaders to have repeatedly played down the threat, comparing the virus to a "little flu" and arguing the economic impact of shutdowns is worse than the virus itself.
More than 50,000 people have been confirmed to have died from the virus in Brazil, with the true number believed to be far higher.
Brazil's official death toll is second only to the United States, and President Donald Trump's handling of the crisis has been widely criticised as erratic and chaotic.
US reaches grim milestone of 120,000 deaths
The United States on Monday passed the grim benchmark of 120,000 deaths when it added another 425 fatalities in 24 hours, the Johns Hopkins University tally showed.
The world's largest economy is the hardest-hit country by the pandemic, with more than 2.31 million official cases.
Many states have largely lifted lockdown measures, and New York - the country's epicenter for the pandemic - took a big step on Monday by allowing non-essential businesses to reopen.
But some 20 states, primarily in the south and west, have seen a rebound in infections.
Among them, Florida passed 100,000 cases, of which nearly 3,000 were diagnosed on Monday alone, according to local health officials.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the virus death toll in the US could surpass 150,000, though he insisted that two to four million lives would have been lost if the country had not taken steps to slow the spread of the disease.
Chinese firm gets approval to begin human testing for potential vaccine
China has approved a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products' unit to begin human testing, the company said in a filing on Tuesday.
The potential vaccine, co-developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has received a certificate from the National Medical Products Administration to launch clinical trials.
Chinese researchers and companies are testing six experimental shots in humans, and more than a dozen vaccines are in different stages of clinical trials globally against the virus that has killed over 470,000 people.
However, none of the them have passed large-scale, late-stage phase 3 clinical trials, a necessary step before entering the consumer market.
Triplets in Mexico test positive the day they were born
Mexico's cases mounted and added their youngest infections on Monday, when triplets tested positive for the virus on the day they were born.
Monica Rangel, the health secretary of the northern state of San Luis Potosi, said the triplets were born May 8 to a mother who was also positive but asymptomatic.
Ms Rangel said the triplets are not believed to be in danger. She said the case was being studied to see whether the triplets were infected before or after birth was being conducted, but said it appeared improbable they could have been infected outside the womb so quickly.
Nationwide, Mexico's confirmed cases rose by 4,577 to 185,122, and the confirmed death toll rose by 759 to 22,584.
Both numbers are considered significant undercounts due to Mexico's very low levels of testing.
Rise in reported cases in Beijing
China reported 22 cases for June 22, 13 of which were in the capital Beijing, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday.
This compared with 18 confirmed cases a day earlier, nine of which were in Beijing. Authorities are restricting movement of people in the capital and stepping up other measures to prevent the virus from spreading following a series of local infections.
Another seven asymptomatic Covid-19 patients, those who are infected but show no symptoms, were reported for June 22, the same as a day earlier. China does not count these patients as confirmed cases.
Yemenis turn to herbal remedies as fears mount over virus toll
As medicines run short and hospital wards overflow, Yemenis are resorting to traditional herbal remedies to protect themselves from coronavirus in a country broken by years of conflict.
Yemen has so far officially recorded under 1,000 cases of the disease, with 257 fatalities, but most clinics are ill-equipped to determine causes of death and there are ominous signs that the real toll is much higher.
The country's health system has all but collapsed since war broke out between the government and Huthi rebels in 2014, and more than two thirds of the population of about 24 million need aid to survive, according to the United Nations.
In the southwestern city of Taez, market vendors stack bags of herbs and spices in front of their shops - from garlic, ginger and turmeric to costus root and fennel flower - at prices much more affordable than modern medicine.
South Korea continues to tackle second wave
South Korea reported 46 new cases on Tuesday after health authorities declared the country was battling a second wave of infections that had been circulating for weeks.
South Korea endured one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside China but appears to have brought it broadly under control thanks to an extensive "trace, test and treat" programme while never imposing a compulsory lockdown.
Social distancing rules were relaxed after a public holiday in early May and the country has since been returning largely to normal.
But in the last month the South has seen around 35 to 50 cases a day, mostly in the Seoul metropolitan area where half of the population lives.
Australia closes schools after students test positive
Australia's state of Victoria has recorded 17 new cases of Covid-19, resulting in the closing of two primary schools in Melbourne. State Premier Daniel Andrews said there would be "significant community transmission" among the new cases.
Mr Andrews said one of the new cases was from a person in hotel quarantine, two were from known outbreaks, three were from routine testing and 11 were under investigation.
The two schools have been closed for thorough cleaning after students from both schools tested positive for the coronavirus.
The suburbs where the schools are located are two of six local government hot spots in recent weeks.
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