Mexico now has the third-highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, Brazil and the United States, where a hurricane on the East Coast on Saturday threatens to complicate efforts to engage the virus.
Mexican fitness reported 688 new deaths on Friday, bringing the country’s total to more than 46,600. That puts Mexico just ahead of the UK, which has more than 46,100, according to johns Hopkins University’s account.
Some countries are seeing encouraging signs: China has reported a drop of more than 50% in newly shown cases, possibly implying that its latest primary outbreak in the northwest Xinjiang region would possibly have kept pace.
However, in Hong Kong and elsewhere, infections continue to increase. Hong Kong reported more than a hundred new cases on Saturday among a population of 7.5 million. Officials have re-imposed recovery restrictions and mask requirements.
On Saturday, Tokyo experienced its third consecutive day of record numbers, the metropolitan government said. Across the country, the number of cases in Japan amounted to a record 1,579 people on Friday, the ministry of fitness said.
And Vietnam, an ancient history of good fortune, is suffering an epidemic that is spreading in its main spa. A third user died there from coronavirus headaches, authorities said Saturday, a day after recording his first death while battling a new outbreak after 99 days without a local case.
All three died in a hospital in Da Nang, a hot spot with more than a hundred cases last week. Thousands of visitors had traveled to the city for the summer holidays and lately are being tested in Hanoi and other places.
On Saturday, twelve more instances were shown, all connected to Da Nang Hospital. Authorities have beefed up security and set up more checkpoints to prevent others from entering or leaving the city, which has been closed since Tuesday.
A temporary hospital has been established and doctors from other cities have been mobilized to help.
“I need to get tested, to avoid worrying if I have the virus or not,” said Pham Thuy Hoa, a bank official who returned to the capital from Da Nang.
In South Korea, prosecutors arrested the elderly leader of a secret devout sect related to more than 5,200 of the nearly 14,300 cases shown in the country. He denied accusations of concealing members and not reporting demonstrations to broader quarantines.
The global pandemic has affected almost every facet of this year’s Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with only 1,000 pilgrims living in Saudi Arabia, up from 2.5 million last year.
The poverty caused by the pandemic also makes it difficult for many to participate in the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute meat to the poor.
“I can buy food for my family,” Somali official Abdishakur Dahir said. “We’re surviving for now. Life gets more complicated throughout the day.”
The Saudi Health Ministry said there have been no cases of pilgrims for COVID-19 this year. All were tested, their movements monitored with electronic bracelets and had to be quarantined before and after.
Meanwhile, India recorded its steepest peak of 57118 new cases in the more than 24 hours, bringing its number of coronavirus cases to nearly 1.7 million, and July accounted for approximately 1.1 million infections.
The country’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has postponed the resumption of foreign flights one month until 31 August. But it will continue to allow several foreign airlines in the United States, Europe and the Middle East to operate special flights to evacuate stranded citizens.
In France, readers from 16 countries where the virus is now widely circulating will have to go through viral testing upon arrival at airports and ports. The country does not allow the entry and exit in general of countries that come with the United States and Brazil.
The evaluation requirement applies only to people entering in limited circumstances, adding French citizens living in the countries concerned.
Those who test positive on Saturday will be quarantined for 14 days.
As autumn approaches, countries around the world wonder how to reopen safely.