This shows World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaking at the WHO headquaters in Geneva on March 16, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

UN /  GENEVA / NEW YORK / BERLIN - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday updated its guidance on the use of masks for control of COVID-19, advising all people aged 60 years or over, or those with underlying conditions, to wear a medical mask in situations where physical distancing is not possible.

The new guidance advises medical masks for all people working in clinical areas of a health facility in areas with widespread transmission, not only workers dealing with COVID-19 patients.

"That means, for example, when a doctor is doing a ward round on the cardiology or palliative care units where there are no confirmed COVID-19 patients, they should still wear a medical mask," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a virtual press conference.

The new guidance also updated the WHO's advice on the use of masks by the general public in areas with community transmission.

"In light of evolving evidence, WHO advises that governments should encourage the general public to wear masks where there is widespread transmission and physical distancing is difficult," Tedros said while introducing the new guidance.

However, the UN health body warns that masks are not a replacement for physical distancing, hand hygiene and other public health measures, and they are only of benefit as part of a comprehensive approach in the fight against COVID-19.

UN

The United Nations is making preparations for the phased reopening of its headquarters in New York, said a spokesman on Friday.

Preparations are going through a senior emergency management group, which exists just for the COVID-19 crisis, with inputs from various UN departments, guided by the UN medical authorities, and in close contact with the host city of New York, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"They will meet again very soon to give some guidance to the secretary-general as to when to move to a next step, which could see a kind of phased reopening," he told a virtual press briefing.

The United Nations is identifying critical staff that would need to be in the building. The reopening would also depend on the wishes of member states, he said.

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Russia

Russia has confirmed 8,855 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising its total to 458,689, its coronavirus response center said in a statement Saturday.

The death toll grew by 197 to 5,725, while 221,388 people have recovered, including 8,708 over the last 24 hours, according to the statement.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, reported 1,992 newly confirmed cases in the last 24 hours, taking its total to 193,061.

Poland

Poland plans to extend a ban on international flights until June 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic, state-run news agency PAP said late on Friday, citing a government decree.

State-controlled Polish airlines LOT restarted flights between the country’s biggest cities, including Warsaw, Gdansk, Krakow, and Wroclaw, from June 1.

As of Friday, Poland had reported 25,410 coronavirus cases, including 1,137 deaths.

Germany

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 407 to 183,678, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.

The reported death toll rose by 33 to 8,646, the tally showed.

Peruvian migrants camp outside the Peruvian consulate to demand repatriation, amid the spread of the new coronavirus and lack of work in Santiago, Chile, June 2, 2020. (PHOTO / AP)

Chile

The Chilean Ministry of Health on Friday raised the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country to 122,499, with 1,448 deaths.

Over the past 24 hours, 4,207 new infections and 92 new deaths have been registered. Of the new confirmed cases, 3,790 presented symptoms while 417 were asymptomatic.

The ministry said that 1,521 people infected with COVID-19 have been hospitalized in intensive care units, with 1,291 patients on ventilators and 337 in critical condition.

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Egypt

Egypt reported on Friday 1,348 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total infections in the North African country to 31,115.

It is the ninth consecutive day for Egypt's daily COVID-19 infections to go beyond 1,000, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

Meanwhile, 40 patients died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,166, while 402 more were discharged from hospitals after having been fully cured, bringing the total recoveries to 8,185, the spokesman added.

Brazil

President Jair Bolsonaro threatened on Friday to pull Brazil out of the World Health Organization after the U.N. agency warned Latin American governments about the risk of lifting lockdowns before slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout the region.

A new Brazilian record for daily COVID-19 fatalities pushed the county’s death toll past that of Italy late on Thursday, but Bolsonaro continues to argue for quickly lifting state isolation orders, arguing that the economic costs outweigh public health risks.

Brazil’s Health Ministry reported late on Thursday that confirmed cases in the country had climbed past 600,000 and 1,437 deaths had been registered within 24 hours, the third consecutive daily record. Brazil reported another 1,005 deaths Friday night. 

Mexico

Mexico reported 4,346 new cases, bringing the country’s total to 110,026, according to Health Ministry data released Friday. The number of deaths from the virus rose by 625 to 13,170.

Mexico now has 19,015 confirmed active cases and 48,822 suspected cases of COVID-19.

US

Coronavirus cases in the U. increased 1.2% as compared with the same time Thursday, to 1.89 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. Deaths rose 0.9% to 108,708.

New York cases rose 0.3% to 376,208, in line with the average increase over the past seven days, according to the state’s health department. The state had 42 new deaths, the lowest reported since early March.

President Donald Trump said he’ll ask Congress for more economic stimulus to boost chances of a recovery from the pandemic, even after the surprise improvement in US unemployment in May.

Live sports and film production can restart in California as soon as June 12, according to state officials. 

UK

UK authorities said coronavirus transmission rates are close to critical levels in some parts of the country, as the confirmed death toll passed 40,000, raising fresh questions over the government’s policy of easing the lockdown.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed there was “a challenge” in northwestern and southwestern England, where the rate of transmission is particularly high, after analysis from officials pointed to evidence that the disease is spreading more quickly again.

The minister’s warning came as the official total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths reached 40,261 -- double the 20,000 that the government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said in March would represent “a good outcome” for Britain.

British scientists halted a major drug trial on Friday after it found that the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine, touted by US. President Donald Trump as a potential “game changer” in the pandemic, was “useless” at treating COVID-19 patients.

“This is not a treatment for COVID-19. It doesn’t work,” Martin Landray, an Oxford University professor who is co-leading the RECOVERY trial, told reporters.

African tally

The number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases across the African continent surpassed 171,206, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Friday.

Ghana

The number of people infected by the new coronavirus in Ghana has increased to 9,168, with 283 new cases confirmed as of Friday, data from the Ghana Health Service (GSH) said.

The GHS said 268 more infected persons under treatment also recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,457.

The number of COVID-19-related deaths has increased to 42, with four new deaths recorded while the number of active cases also increased to 5,669.

Rwanda

Several non-contact outdoor sporting activities will resume in Rwanda on June 8 with measures against the spread of COVID-19, Rwandan Ministry of Sports announced Friday.

The sporting activities allowed to resume include cycling, athletics, golf, tennis, hiking, motorsports among others, said the guidelines issued to the public by the ministry.