An Iraqi phlebotomist holds a bag of plasma donated by a recovered COVID-19 patient at the blood bank of Iraq's southern city of Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar province, on June 24, 2020. (ASAAD NIAZI / AFP)
BUENOS AIRES / LAGOS / MOSCOW / MEXICO CITY / MILAN / HELSINKI / LONDON / DUBLIN / NAIROBI / PRAGUE / CAPE TOWN / BRUSSELS / BELGRADE - The European Union wants to fast-track funding to treat COVID-19 patients with blood plasma collected from survivors, an EU document seen by Reuters shows, in a sign of the bloc’s growing confidence in the experimental treatment.
The move also highlights the more assertive approach being taken by the 27-nation union in the race to find effective drugs and vaccines against the new coronavirus, after the United States scooped up several promising candidates.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has invited national blood authorities to apply for possible emergency funding by July 10 to boost their collection of convalescent plasma, which is obtained from people who have recovered from COVID-19, the document seen by Reuters said.
Funds could be used to buy equipment to collect, store and test convalescent plasma, the document said, adding the money could come from the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI), a European rainy-day fund.
The use of the ESI could allow funds to be provided this year. Usually EU funding projects are planned years in advance.
Money from the 2.7-billion-euro (US$3 billion) ESI has so far only been used or committed for highly sensitive issues, such as buying scarce face masks at the peak of the pandemic in Europe and advance purchase of potential COVID-19 vaccines.
Over 300 million euros have been spent and about 2 billion is pencilled in to buy possible vaccines, EU officials told Reuters. This leaves some 400 million euros available.
The use of the ESI is still being considered, the Commission noted in its document. A Commission spokesman did not immediately reply to questions on the matter.
A man wearing a face mask rides a motorcycle past an informational mural warning people about the dangers of the new coronavirus and how to prevent transmission, with words in Swahili reading "We are the Cure", painted by youth artists from the Uweza Foundation, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya July 8, 2020. (BRIAN INGANGA / AP)
Africa
African countries urgently need to scale up coronavirus testing and the use of face masks, a regional disease control body said on Thursday, as the epidemic gains traction across the continent with confirmed cases topping half a million.
John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said new cases were up 24 percent in Africa in the past week.
Africa had 512,039 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 11,915 deaths, as of Thursday, data from governments and the World Health Organization showed.
Five countries account for 71 percent of infections, Nkengasong said: Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Algeria.
Global tally
Global coronavirus cases topped 12 million, the latest milestone as the pandemic continues to spread, while the global COVID-19 death toll surpassed 548,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The US is the hardest-hit country, with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths.
Besides the US, countries with more than 250,000 cases include Brazil, India, Russia, Peru, Chile, Britain, Mexico and Spain, according to the tally.
ALSO READ: World leaders discuss comprehensive approaches to tackle COVID-19
Youth unemployment in Europe
The COVID-19 pandemic has effectively pulled away the first rung of the jobs ladder for many young Europeans, a situation economists say has the potential to blight their employment and earnings prospects long term.
While the overall EU unemployment rate in May went up by just 0.1 percent point on the month to 6.7 percent – a modest rise thanks to furlough and short-time work schemes - unemployment among the under-25s went up three times as fast by 0.3 percent points to 15.7 percent.
A major challenge is the fact that youth unemployment is highly correlated with economic growth: the bigger the overall economic hit now, the more of it falls on young workers.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the Czech Republic had the lowest youth jobless rate in Europe of barely 5 percent following a protracted economic boom. Yet in the year to May, unemployment among those aged 15-24 jumped by just over a half to 34,000.
Dennis Tamesberger of the Chamber of Labour in Linz, Austria, who tracks joblessness among the young across Europe, warned that the consequences of rising youth unemployment now facing Europe could last for a generation. “Periods of unemployment during one's youth can have a negative impact in later life, which justifies the term of a lost generation," said Tamesberger.
"The 'corona class of 2020' could face years of reduced pay and limited job prospects, long after the current economic storm has passed, unless additional support is provided fast," study author Kathleen Henehan of the the London-based Resolution Foundation think-tank said.
Youth unemployment across Europe took years to recover from the financial crisis and remained stuck at around 30 percent in countries such as Spain and Greece - a figure Tamesberger and others predict could now soar to 45 percent.
The pandemic has created new hurdles as sectors which typically provide the young with their first step on the ladder – retail and hospitality among them – are most affected by the social distancing measures that could be needed for months yet.
Argentina
Argentina posted a daily record of 3,604 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as the South American country grapples with rising infections that are threatening its early success in stalling the spread of the virus.
The sharp rise, the first time daily cases topped 3,000, took the nation's tally to 87,030, fivefold the number at the start of June, though still well below case loads in hard-hit neighbors Brazil, Chile and Peru.
Argentina's death toll from the pandemic stands at 1,694.
Belarus
Belarus reported 221 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 64,224, according to the Health Ministry.
There were 952 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, taking total recoveries to 52,854, the ministry said.
The death toll rose by seven to 443, according to the ministry.
Brazil
Brazil exceeded 1.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday, and the disease has killed a total of 67,964 people, according to the country's Health Ministry.
In the last 24 hours, the country registered 44,571 new cases and an additional 1,223 deaths from the disease, ministry data showed.
President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday said on Twitter he was doing "very well," crediting his use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine - unproven for treating COVID-19 - for his mild symptoms. The president announced Tuesday in an interview that he has tested positive for the disease.
Following his announcement, Brazilian broadcasters pulled journalists off the job after they were exposed to Bolsonaro in the interview, quarantining them until they test negative for the disease.
Meanwhile, Bolsonaro on Wednesday vetoed provisions of a law that obligated the federal government to provide drinking water, disinfectants and a guarantee of hospital beds to indigenous communities amid the pandemic. The president's office said those provisions in the law, approved by Congress, were "against the public interest" and "unconstitutional," by creating expenses for the federal government without new sources of revenue to cover them.
Bulgaria
The Bulgarian Health Ministry on Thursday reported a record high of 240 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking its nationwide tally to 6,342.
The previous daily record of new cases was reported on Wednesday with 188 infections.
A total of 71 of the new cases were registered in the country's capital Sofia, raising the city's total infections to 2,024, the ministry said.
The nationwide death toll now stands at 259 after five more patients died in the last 24 hours, it said.
Meanwhile, another 129 people have recovered from the disease, raising the total number of recoveries to 3,166, it said.
Chile
Chile on Wednesday reported that the country has tallied a total of 303,083 confirmed COVID-19 cases since the outbreak began.
The death toll climbed to 6,573 after 139 more deaths were registered in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said. In the same period, 2,064 new cases were detected.
Some 24,807 cases are considered to be active while 271,703 patients have recovered.
Egypt
Egypt confirmed on Wednesday 1,025 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 78,304, said the Health Ministry.
Another 75 deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 3,564, while 523 more patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 22,241, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.
Finland
Finland on Wednesday lifted all travel restrictions for 17 European countries, and allowed work-related travel and other essential trips to several countries on other continents starting from July 13.
Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo said at a press conference that in the Asia-Pacific area, work-related and other essential travels will be allowed to and from China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and South Korea. Finland will also allow the same type of travel to and from Georgia and several countries in Africa and South America.
Finland will maintain restrictions and the recommendation of a 14-day quarantine upon arrival for travelers from 12 European countries, including Spain, Britain and France.
Finland has so far reported 7,265 confirmed cases and 329 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
Georgia
Georgia confirmed five new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the country's tally to 968, according to the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).
As of Thursday, 844 of the 968 patients have recovered while 15 others have died, the NCDC said.
Director of the NCDC Amiran Gamkrelidze said Georgia is now working on strengthening its public healthcare system to be fully prepared for a possible second wave of the coronavirus.
This file photo taken on April 8, 2020 shows one vial of the drug remdesivir during a press conference about the start of a study in particularly severely ill patients at the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) in Hamburg, northern Germany. (ULRICH PERREY / POOL / AFP)
Germany
Gilead Sciences Inc plans to make more of its drug remdesivir available for Germany and Europe from autumn and will decide how much each country gets based on the rate of infection, the drugmaker’s Germany boss told a German magazine. Bettina Bauer, managing director of Gilead in Germany, told WirtschaftsWoche she was in talks with the German government about increasing supply.
READ MORE: Virus: EU to discuss remdesivir deal; Russia's tally tops 687,000
Germany has only a few hundred doses of remdesivir and has urged Gilead to increase production of the drug, which is the only treatment granted a conditional marketing authorization by the European Union (EU) for use in COVID-19 patients, in Europe.
Germany’s coronavirus infection rate fell the second day in a row, dropping to 0.70 on Wednesday from 0.81 the previous day, according to the latest estimate by the country’s health body, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
There were 356 new cases in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing the total to 198,699, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths rose by 14 to 9,046.
According to RKI data on Thursday, the number of confirmed cases rose 442 to 197,783 while the reported death toll rose by 12 at 9,048.
Ghana
Some key state institutions in Ghana are grappling with the COVID-19 outbreak as the country tries to ease restrictions on business activities to salvage the economy.
The Ministry of Finance, the Judicial Service and the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) are among the state institutions taking remedial actions in response to the spread of the disease, as the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said late Wednesday that the nationwide tally by rose to 22,822 after the addition of 854 new infections.
The Supreme Court of Ghana has suspended its sittings for a week following unconfirmed reports that some judges may have tested positive for the pandemic. The apex court has suspended 16 cases scheduled for the week, starting from Tuesday.
Earlier, the West African country's bulk petroleum storage company announced the closure of its offices as 46 employees had tested positive for the new coronavirus.
There are now 5,129 active COVID-19 cases in Ghana. The number of recoveries stood at 17,564 while the death toll stood at 129, the GHS said.
Hungary
Hungary is going to review rules on cross-border travel to neighboring countries where coronavirus infections are on the rise, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Thursday.
Gergely Gulyas mentioned Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Austria where the number of cases have been rising in the past two weeks. The government's coronavirus task force will meet later on Thursday to discuss travel rules, he added.
Hungary has so far reported 4,220 confirmed cases and 591 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
Ireland
Twenty-six Irish pubs face possible prosecution and the risk of losing their licences over potential breaches of health regulations introduced to control the spread of COVID-19, Irish police said on Thursday.
In many of the potential breaches, police found customers consuming alcohol but no evidence of food also being consumed and no evidence of receipts to show that food had been sold. Officers also observed a lack of adherence to public health advice, such as allowing large groups at one table, little to no social distancing, no advisory signage and no COVID-19 contact tracing information being recorded.
Police submitted a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions for direction as to how to proceed.
The development came after Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin warned on Monday that the government could delay the full reopening of pubs on July 20 after "very worrying" scenes of packed crowds of drinkers outside some bars over the weekend.
Italy
Italy plans to monitor wastewater nationwide for a possible early warning about any renewed outbreak of COVID-19 infections, the National Institute of Health (ISS) said on Wednesday.
The move underscores Italy’s hope to be well prepared for any new wave of the coronavirus. Italy became one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year; to date, it has recorded 242,149 cases and 34,914 deaths.
The wastewater-monitoring project will focus on priority sites such as tourist resorts in a first phase starting this month. It will be expanded in October with a surveillance network extended to all Italian cities.
“This approach can anticipate...where the virus is circulating in our country,” said Luca Lucentini, Director of the Water Quality and Health Department of the ISS.
Last month, the ISS reported that scientists had found traces of the coronavirus in wastewater collected from Milan and Turin in December 2019.
ALSO READ: Sewage may offer clues to virus origin
Lithuania
Lithuania will extend the EU's internal border control until Aug 15, with checks on people entering the country to be carried out only at its airports and seaport, the government decided on Wednesday.
Passports of people entering Lithuania by land will not be checked, said the government in its release.
Meanwhile, the government has also decided to allow more people to attend public events. From July 17 to July 31, outdoor events can be held with no more than 1,000 participants and indoor activities are not allowed to have more than 400 participants.
In the past 24 hours, Lithuanian reported as many as 10 new cases of COVID-19. According to the Ministry of Health, a total of 1,854 confirmed cases had been reported, including 79 deaths and 1,552 recoveries by Wednesday morning.
Mexico
Mexico on Wednesday posted a fresh record for new coronavirus cases reported on a single day, with 6,995 infections, overtaking Spain to register the world's eighth highest case count.
The figures pushed Mexico's overall tally of infections to 275,003 cases. Mexico on Wednesday also recorded 782 additional fatalities, bringing its overall death toll to 32,796, the world's fifth highest total.
Lopez-Gatell, the deputy health minister and who spearheads Mexico's coronavirus response, said the new figures do not mean the spread of the virus is accelerating. "The epidemic in Mexico is slowing down," he said, adding that the velocity of the spread was decreasing.
He highlighted progress in Mexico City, the epicenter of the virus. He said despite officials in the capital loosening restrictions and reopening for business two weeks ago, there have been no signals the virus was on the rise.
Morocco
Morocco announced on Wednesday that it will gradually reopen its "air and sea" borders from July 14 for "Moroccan citizens and foreign residents" in the North African country.
Ferries from the French port Sete and Italian port Genoa will be allowed to serve Moroccan ports during this operation.
All passengers will have to present a PCR test result received not more than 48 hours before, according to a joint statement by the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, and health.
A total of 164 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Morocco on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 14,771. Deaths rose by two to 242.
Nigeria
Nigeria's confirmed coronavirus cases passed 30,000 on Wednesday, the country's disease control center said, as the virus spreads in Africa's most populous country amid an easing of restrictions put in place to curb the virus.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in its daily update posted on its website, said there were 460 new cases, taking the total number of recorded cases to 30,249. The NCDC said these had led to 684 deaths.
People are seen walking at a park in Moscow, Russia, on July 8, 2020. (EVGENY SINITSYN / XINHUA)
Russia
Moscow on Thursday said it would reopen schools and universities next week, in the latest lifting of coronavirus restrictions as the number of new daily infections in the Russian capital fell to 568.
Moscow, which has overall recorded more than 227,000 cases of the virus, last month lifted a lockdown in place since March and has staggered the reopening of businesses and the lifting of other restrictions.
Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said on Thursday the outbreak was waning in the city and it was time to further ease restrictions.
He said schools, universities, summer camps and cultural centres could reopen starting next week.
From the same time, residents of the city of nearly 13 million will no longer be required to wear masks outdoors, he said.
But masks will remain mandatory in shops, medical facilities and on Moscow’s sprawling public transport network.
Muscovites can also return to theatres, cinemas, concert halls and sporting venues starting next month, as long as they don’t occupy more than half of a given venue’s capacity.
Sobyanin said the lifting of Moscow’s lockdown was a success as the number of new cases recorded on a daily basis in the city was falling.
Russia on Thursday reported 6,509 new cases of the coronavirus, pushing its official nationwide tally to 707,301, the fourth largest in the world. It has reported 10,843 deaths.
Slovakia
Slovakia reported its biggest daily jump in new coronavirus cases since April 22 on Thursday as infections rose again.
The Central European country has one of Europe's lowest death tolls from COVID-19 and has avoided a surge in cases like its western neighbours since the pandemic struck in March.
On Wednesday, it recorded 53 new cases, according to Health Ministry data, which was the seventh day since June 30 the daily rise had been in double digits.
In total, it has reported 1,851 cases, of which 1,477 have recovered and 28 have died.
"53 new cases. Too many for us to continue to rely on people's responsibility. Unfortunately," Prime Minister Igor Matovic wrote on his Facebook page, without giving more details. It was not clear if that meant restrictions would be reimposed. The prime minister's office had no further comment.
The Health Ministry said, however, the situation was under control.
Slovenia
The Slovenian government on Wednesday reduced the number of people for public gatherings from 50 to 10 to curb the spread of COVID-19, according to an announcement by the government.
The restriction will apply to private events as well, including weddings. Changes to the ban on gatherings do not apply to the number of people in restaurants and pubs or on buses.
Meanwhile, church masses are allowed to be held.
Slovenia reported 24 new cases, pushing the tally to 1,763, with 111 deaths, according to the latest official figures on Wednesday.
Serbia
Serbia on Thursday dropped plans for a weekend lockdown in the capital to curb a new spread of the coronavirus after two days of violent protests against any reimposition of restrictions.
A government crisis group tasked with fighting the virus decided instead on a more limited ban on outdoor and indoor public gatherings of more than 10 people to minimize the risk of further infections.
It also said that working hours at indoor restaurants and cafes would have to end at 9 pm.
President Aleksandar Vucic’s announcement earlier this week that a weekend lockdown would be necessary sparked unrest in Belgrade and several other Serbian cities.
The demonstrations were at first driven by anger and frustration over economically-stifling measures to contain the pandemic but evolved quickly into anti-government rallies with participants demanding Vucic’s resignation.
Serbia, a country of 7 million, has so far reported 17,076 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 341 deaths. Health authorities say hospitals are running at full capacity and staff are exhausted. The number of new infections rose to 357 on Wednesday from 299 on Tuesday.
South Africa
South Africa's Gauteng province, the economic hub in the country, has overtaken the Western Cape to become the country's COVID-19 epicenter, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.
Gauteng now has 75,015 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest number among all the nine provinces, compared with 73,292 confirmed cases in the Western Cape.
Nationwide, the cumulative number of confirmed cases rose by 8,810 to 224,665, Mkhize said.
The national death toll climbed by 100 to 3,602 as of Wednesday, Mkhize added.
With cases rising rapidly, burial sites around Gauteng have started preparing graves and assessing its capacity, in order to make provisions for the worst scenario, Gauteng's Department of Health said. As of Wednesday, the province has recorded 478 deaths.
UK
The death toll from confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United Kingdom rose by 126 to 44,517, health officials said on Wednesday.
The overall tally of confirmed cases rose by 630 to 86,979, according to the British Department of Health and Social Care.
READ MORE: UK unveils 30-billion-pound plan to save virus-hit economy
Ukraine
A total of 51,224 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,327 deaths, have been registered in Ukraine as of Thursday, and 23,784 patients have recovered, according to the Public Health Center under Ukraine's Health Ministry.
In the past 24 hours, 810 new cases were reported in the country.
So far, 3,682 children and 7,178 health workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the epidemic began.
Vehicles wait in line at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, July 8, 2020. (WILFREDO LEE / AP)
US
The United States reported more than 60,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the biggest increase ever reported by a country in a single day, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
The United States faces a bleak summer with record-breaking infections and many states forced to close parts of the economy again, leaving some workers without a paycheck.
In addition to nearly 10,000 new cases in Florida, Texas reported over 9,500 cases and California reported more than 8,500 new infections. California and Texas also each reported a record one-day increase in deaths.
It was the second day in a row that US deaths climbed by more than 900 in a day, the highest levels seen since early June, according to the tally.
ALSO READ: Growing infections put shadow on Trump event
Tennessee, West Virginia and Utah all had record daily increases in new cases, and infections are rising in 42 out of 50 states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks.
The US daily tally stood at 60,021 Wednesday, according to the tally by Johns Hopkins University.
The previous US record for new cases in a day was 56,818 last Friday, according to a Reuters tally. The United States has reported over 3 million cases and 132,000 deaths from the virus, putting President Donald Trump's pandemic strategy under scrutiny.
Venezuela
The governor of the Venezuelan state of Zulia, which President Nicolas Maduro has identified as a coronavirus hotspot, has checked into a clinic to seek treatment for respiratory trouble, three sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.
Omar Prieto was admitted on Tuesday night to a private clinic near Zulia's capital of Maracaibo, where he is receiving preventative treatment while he awaits the results of a COVID-19 test, according to two of the sources.
Prieto's press office and Venezuela's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Maduro in a televised broadcast on Wednesday announced the country recorded 317 new cases of the virus, taking the total to 8,010. He did not mention Prieto.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe registered 98 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the country's tally to 885.
Eighteen health workers at a public health facility in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city, have tested positive for COVID-19 after coming into contact with a COVID-19 patient.
Meanwhile, five new recoveries were also registered, raising the number of recoveries in the country to 206.
Currently, the number of active cases stand at 670 while deaths remain at nine.
