7 August

Global: Global Covid-19 infections have passed 19.1 million with more than 715,000 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.

Germany: The Robert Koch Institute said Germany had registered another 1,147 cases to midnight on Thursday, raising more alarms about a second wave of cases in Europe.

France: France reported 1,604 new cases, marking the first time since April that the country has counted more than 1,600 infections on two consecutive days. Another seven deaths increased the total to 30,312, according to the Health Ministry.

US: Nearly 300,000 Americans could be dead from Covid-19 by 1 December, according to a forecast by health experts at the University of Washington, although they said 70,000 lives could be saved if people were scrupulous about wearing masks. The US death toll stands at over 159,000, the most of any country in the world, with more than 4.8 million known cases.

India: India has seen another large jump in new cases, registering a record daily jump of 62,538 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours. The rise takes the country’s total to 2.03 million, the health ministry said.

Australia: The state of Victoria reported 11 coronavirus-related deaths and 450 new infections in the last 24 hours, compared with eight fatalities and 471 cases a day earlier.

Africa: Covid-19 cases in Africa have surpassed one million and the actual number of infections could be several times higher with a lack of testing, the Associated Press reported, citing global health experts. Separately, South Africa reported 306 additional deaths and 538,184 cases.

Mexico: Mexico’s health ministry reported 6,590 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 819 fatalities, bringing the country’s totals to 462,690 infections and 50,517 deaths. Mexico has now the third highest death toll in the world, after Brazil, which is approaching 100,000, and the United States.

China: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam will announce plans for voluntary, city-wide free coronavirus tests Friday afternoon, news site HK01 reported, citing unidentified people.

Venezuela: Venezuela reported a record 981 new cases, increasing the country’s infections to 23,280. Seven deaths were recorded, bringing the fatalities to 202, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a Twitter post.

Philippines: Despite imposing the longest, strictest lockdown in South-East Asia, coronavirus cases in the Philippines have now surged to almost 120,000, eclipsing Indonesia to become the region’s biggest outbreak.

UK: A large proportion of UK healthcare workers may have been infected with coronavirus early in the pandemic, according to a survey suggesting that loss of smell and taste may be a guide to determining its prevalence in populations.

Doctors warn on halting normal hospital care. Thousands of people suffering from cancer, heart trouble or breathing difficulties could die if the NHS suspends regular care in the event of a second wave of coronavirus.

Vaccine news

Global: WHO warns against “vaccine nationalism”. The head of the World Health Organization says richer countries must not keep treatments for Covid-19 to themselves and instead share any vaccines with poorer nations.

Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree to provide 1.9 billion reais ($356m) in funds to purchase and eventually produce a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University researchers.

Lockdown updates

US: The US State Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted global advisories recommending that US citizens avoid all international travel because of the coronavirus pandemic, and instead issued a raft of high-level warnings for individual countries.

Netherlands: Prime Minister Mark Rutte told the public the country can “prevent a second lockdown if we don’t throw away the head start we achieved together.” National measures may be required to rein in the virus, Rutte said on national television, after new cases almost doubled this week compared to the previous week.

Vietnam: Capital city Hanoi may place some high-risk virus areas under social distancing, according to a post on the city government’s website, which cited information from a meeting on Thursday.

Economic updates

US: Democratic leaders in the US Congress and top aides to President Donald Trump failed to make substantial progress on a new coronavirus aid bill, but both sides expressed a willingness to continue the negotiations.