This undated photo shows coronaviruses visible under a microscope. (PHOTO / BSIP/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES / BLOOMBERG)

MINSK / TORONTO / MEXICO CITY / BOGOTA / RIO DE JANEIRO / ROME / PARIS / MADRID / MOSCOW / LISBON / GENEVA / BRUSSELS - The EU has made available up to 45 million euros (US$53 million) to increase the collection of plasma from COVID-19 survivors for the treatment of people who contract the disease, a spokesman told Reuters.

Toronto will move into the third stage of its economic reopening on July 31, the Ontario provincial govt announced

The move confirms the EU’s growing confidence in experimental therapies based on so-called convalescent plasma, which is currently used in hospitals for direct transfusions to critically ill patients and is being tested to develop possible medicines against COVID-19.

Money is coming from an emergency fund that the European Union has so far used only for highly sensitive issues throughout the pandemic, including the purchase of another COVID-19 treatment and potential vaccines.

Grants will be distributed to blood collection centres to help them buy new equipment, such as testing kits and machines that separate plasma from blood, the EU spokesman said.

Collection centres run by private companies could also access the funding, an EU official said.

The European Commission’s spokesman said the money made available to help the collection of plasma could also be used to cover costs to retool drugs against COVID-19.

But “it is expected that a large part of the available funding will be used for plasma”, the spokesman said.

Money for plasma comes from an EU emergency fund which the Commission said on Wednesday deployed 63 million euros to buy remdesivir, the only drug at this stage authorised in the bloc against COVID-19.

The bloc has also committed about 2 billion euros of the rainy-day fund to secure advance purchase deals of potential vaccines against the disease, EU officials told Reuters.

Global tally

COVID-19 infections worldwide saw a daily hike of 226,783 in the past 24 hours, staying above 200,000 for 13 consecutive days and bringing the global tally to 16,341,920, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday.

According to the latest situation report released on Tuesday, the global death toll rose by 4,153 to 650,805, with the Americas reporting more than half of the fatalities, in terms of total deaths and daily toll.

According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University Wednesday, the global tally surpassed 16.7 million and the global toll topped 660,000.

Countries around the world should implement strict health measures to suppress the virus transmission and save lives, including mass testing, strict quarantine, social distancing and wearing a mask, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a virtual news briefing on Monday.

"Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they're not, cases go up," he said, praising countries such as Cambodia, Rwanda, Thailand, China, Germany and South Korea.

The WHO believes that countries have to contain the virus outbreak at home in order to lift travel bans.

Africa CDC warns of possible 'acute shortage' of virus equipment

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Tuesday warned African countries to brace for possible "acute shortage" of COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the near future.

"Due to disruptions in the global supply chain, some African countries may face the risk of an acute shortage of personal protective equipment," the Africa CDC warned.

"Planning to prevent critical shortages should be done in advance, with clear triggers for implementation and resumption of standard practice," Africa CDC said.

It stressed that the re-use and reprocessing of single-use personal protective equipment "must be a last resort temporary measure to be adopted until stocks are replenished".

As of Tuesday, the African continent has reported more than 859,000 and 18,000 deaths, according to the latest figures from the Africa CDC.

In this July 23, 2020 file photo, a health worker, behind a screen with rubber gloves, takes a nasal swab from a man to test for COVID-19 at the Masiphumelele community center in Cape Town, South Africa. (NARDUS ENGELBRECHT / AP)

Steps outlined to reduce COVID-19 impact on children

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is threatening access to food by some of the world's most vulnerable -- children, according to a new white paper written by the heads of four United Nations agencies, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The white paper, published in the scientific journal The Lancet and released by FAO on Tuesday, called on countries to take action to protect children from food supply problems sparked by the pandemic.

It was jointly written by FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, along with David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), Henrietta Fore, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The paper, entitled "Child Malnutrition and COVID-19", calls for five specific actions aimed at protecting children from malnutrition during the pandemic: safeguarding and promoting access to "nutritious, safe, and affordable diets"; investments in maternal and child nutrition initiatives; reactivating and expanding early detection services for low body weight among young children; maintaining access to healthy school meals for vulnerable kids; and expanding social protection programs to guarantee access to food and other essential services.

Albania

The mayor of Albanian capital Tirana, Erion Veliaj, said on Tuesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

"I am in good health, as is my family. But, from today I will continue to work from home with the same dedication for Tirana," Veliaj wrote on his Facebook account.

According to local media, three members of the Albanian parliament have tested positive for COVID-19 as well.

Health authorities on Tuesday reported 117 new cases, bringing the tally in the country to 4,997, with 2,789 recoveries and 148 fatalities.

Austria

Austria’s government agreed to extend its furlough program for another six months to protect jobs as the coronavirus ravages European economies. 

The new plan -- agreed with unions and employers -- is similar to an existing program in force since March, but with small changes. 

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced the deal on a new furlough together with the heads of unions and chamber of commerce ahead of a government meeting in Vienna.

A total of 20,850 confirmed cases and 716 deaths have so far been reported in the country, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, right, inspects police vehicles as he visits the Belarusian Interior Ministry special forces base in Minsk, Belarus, July 28, 2020. (NIKOLAI PETROV / BELTA POOL PHOTO VIA AP)

Belarus

Belarus reported 152 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 67,518, according to the country's health ministry.

There have been 773 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 61,442, the ministry added.

So far, 548 people have died of the disease in the country, including five over the past 24 hours, it said.

As of Wednesday, over 1,278,000 tests for the coronavirus have been conducted across the country, including 8,501 over the past 24 hours, according to official figures. 

A worker disinfects a public school in the Taguatinga neighborhood of Brasilia, Brazil, July 28, 2020. (ERALDO PERES / AP)

Brazil

Brazil recorded 40,816 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, as well as 921 deaths from the disease, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Brazil has registered nearly 2.5 million cases since the pandemic began, and the official death toll has risen to 88,539, according to ministry data.

Bulgaria

The Bulgarian government on Tuesday approved the extension of the nationwide epidemic emergency until Aug 31 in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, the cabinet said in a statement.

"The prolongation of the epidemic emergency will make it possible to strengthen the implementation of temporary anti-epidemic measures in order to limit the spread of the disease and protect the lives and health of citizens," the statement reads.

From June 9 until now, there has been a significant increase in the number of daily registered COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the statement .

A total of 10,621 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Bulgaria so far, and 347 people have died. On June 8, the figures stood at 2,727 and 160, respectively. 

Canada

Toronto will move into the third stage of its economic reopening on July 31, the Ontario provincial government announced on Wednesday, paving the way for the majority of businesses in Canada’s most populous city to resume operations after four months of lockdown.

The stage three of reopening will allow Toronto and the region of Peel, which covers Toronto’s suburbs, to reopen gyms, movie theatres and playgrounds, with social distancing guidelines in place, an Ontario government statement said.

Only Windsor-Essex, which has seen outbreaks of COVID-19 among agricultural workers, will remain in stage two.

Canada announced Tuesday it has authorized the use of the drug remdesivir for treating patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19.

Canada said remdesivir will be authorized to treat patients who have pneumonia and require extra oxygen to help them breathe. Remdesivir is the first drug that Canada has authorized for the treatment of COVID-19, according to a press release from Health Canada.

The drug, manufactured by Gilead Sciences Canada, Inc., is authorized for use in adults and adolescents with a bodyweight of at least 40 kg. Gilead did not seek authorization for an indication of use of remdesivir to treat children or pregnant women, Health Canada said.

The authorization includes a full six-week scientific review.

ALSO READ: WHO says COVID-19 pandemic is 'one big wave', not seasonal

Canada has so far reported 116,871 confirmed cases and 8,957 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Chile

Chile on Tuesday reported that the country has tallied 349,800 cases of novel coronavirus infection and 9,240 deaths.

According to the Health Ministry, 1,876 new cases were detected in the past 24 hours and 53 more patients died.

Authorities said 18,228 cases are considered active while a toal of 322,332 people have recovered.

Colombia

Colombia's national lockdown to curb infections of the new coronavirus will be extended by one month until the end of August, President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday.

The Andean country has reported more than 267,300 coronavirus cases and 9,074 deaths.

"Obligatory preventative isolation, as the general concept, will continue until August 30," Duque said in his nightly broadcast. This is the eighth time the lockdown has been extended. 

Municipalities with little or no coronavirus infections will continue reopening, Duque said, while avoiding gatherings of large groups. Areas with high infection rates have maintained more stringent quarantines.

The capital city Bogota imposed two-week quarantines on certain neighborhoods with one person per household allowed to shop within the neighborhood for essentials each day. The first two-week period has ended and the measure is being applied to different neighborhoods.

Ecuador

As the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on Ecuador's capital, Quito, authorities are deploying new sanitary mobile centers to ramp up testing and ease  pressure on a health system that is being challenged again by a rapid rise in cases.

Quito now has 12,747 cases, with Ecuador's total case count exceeding 82,000, according to figures released by the Health Ministry on Tuesday. Some 600 people have died in the capital, out of 5,584 deaths across the Andean nation.

The government says Quito is experiencing a "critical situation" as intensive care units have reached full capacity.

Authorities have set up tents in schools across Quito to conduct rapid tests and are providing diagnoses at cultural centers and a basketball stadium. Medical brigades dispatched by the Health Ministry are  patrolling neighborhoods with high rates of infection to carry out spot tests.

Egypt

Egypt registered on Tuesday 465 new COVID-19 cases, raising the number of infections to 92,947, said the health ministry.

The death toll rose to 4,691 after 39 more fatalities were added, the ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement.

The spokesman said that another 1,121 patients were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recoveries to 35,959.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia's COVID-19 caseload reached 15,200 after 653 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said.

According to a statement by the ministry, recoveries rose to 6,526 after 170 new recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours.

Another 14 people died from the disease, raising the death toll to 239.

The ministry said a total of 8,433 patients were still undergoing medical treatment, of which 66 were in severe condition.

A family wearing face masks walk across the Notre Dame bridge in Paris, France, July 28, 2020. (KAMIL ZIHNIOGLU / AP)

France

France's health minister urged the country on Wednesday not to drop its guard against COVID-19, saying it faced a long battle and that observing social distancing rules was vital to avoiding a new national lockdown.

"We are not facing a second wave, the epidemic is continuing... Some people do not respect the rules. We must not let down our guard," Health Minister Olivier Veran told LCI television.

Veran was asked whether he would advise against going on holiday in the Brittany resort of Quiberon after a COVID-19 cluster was reported there last week and local authorities ordered a night curfew for beaches.

"On Quiberon, there is a cluster of about 50 people. We are looking at the situation ... If we need to take other measures, we will take them," he said.

The Quiberon prefecture later said there were now 72 confirmed cases, mostly people aged 18 to 25.

Separately, French Junior European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said that the closure of borders between European countries as a result of the pandemic must be avoided as much as possible.

French health authorities reported 725 new cases and 14 deaths on Tuesday. The death toll now stands at 30,223. In a statement, authorities said "viral circulation is still sustained in France", stressing the reproduction rate was steady at 1.3.

Georgia

Georgia confirmed 10 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing its tally to 1,155.

According to the country's National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health, five of the 10 new cases were reported in the Gardabani municipality and four were imported. The source of infection for the remaining case has not been identified.

As of Wednesday, 929 of the 1,155 confirmed cases have recovered while 16 have died, the center said.

Germany

Germany awarded three biotech companies grants to help them speed up the development of coronavirus vaccine candidates, but Research Minister Anja Karliczek said any vaccine was unlikely to be widely available before the middle of next year.

Europe's largest economy has reported a rise in infections in recent days, with the head of Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases blaming negligence and saying it was unclear if a second wave was underway.

"We should not expect a miracle," Karliczek said at a news conference, calling for people to maintain social distancing and mask-wearing to avoid jeopardising what Germany had achieved in recent weeks in terms of bringing the pandemic under control.

Karliczek's remarks came as RKI data showed Wednesday that confirmed cases in Germany increased by 684 to 206,926, and the death toll rose by six to 9,128.

Government advisers had recommended making awards from a 750 million euro (US$882.23 million) pot for vaccine development the government announced last month to German biotech firms BioNtech, CureVac and IDT Biologika, which are working on coronavirus vaccines, Karliczek said.

Italy

Italy's upper house of parliament approved on Tuesday a request by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to extend until Oct 15 a state of emergency, expanding his government's powers as it tackles the coronavirus health crisis.

Opposition parties had objected, accusing Conte of trying to keep too much power in his own hands despite a dramatic fall in the rate of contagion. However, the upper house Senate passed the measure by 157 votes to 125 in the 319-seat chamber.

"The virus continues to evolve and has not run its course. It would be incongruous to abruptly suspend such an effective measure," Conte told the Senate in Tuesday's debate.

The state of emergency gives greater powers to both regional and central government, including making it easier for ministers to declare red zones should the disease flare up again, and to bolster hospital resources. It will also cut bureaucracy as officials prepare schools to reopen in September after being shut for six months.

Italy has been one of the worst-affected countries in Europe, registering more than 35,000 deaths from around 246,500 cases. However, new infections have fallen sharply over the past three months.

Kenya

Kenya's COVID-19 tally crossed 18,000 on Tuesday as infections continue to rise, the Ministry of Health said.

Mutahi Kagwe, cabinet secretary in the ministry, said 606 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 18,581.

Kagwe said 75 more patients have recovered, taking the number of recoveries to 7,908.

The death toll rose to 299 after another 14 deaths were reported, according to Kagwe.

Libya

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Libya and it is difficult to prevent the local transmission in the war-torn country, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

"All of Libya's municipalities have officially moved from level 3 to level 4 of the pandemic, which means it has become difficult to track suspected cases, as the number of positive cases increases," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement came as the country's National Center for Disease Control reported 190 new cases, the biggest daily increase since the first case was detected in March.

The center said that a total of 3,017 cases have so far been reported, with 579 recoveries and 67 deaths.

Malta

Sixty-five migrants who were in a group of 94 people rescued at sea and taken to Malta on Monday have tested positive for COVID-19, Malta's health ministry said on Tuesday.

It was the single largest cluster of positive cases detected on the Mediterranean island since the first case came to light there on March 7.

The health ministry said 85 of the migrants had been tested so far, with nine awaiting an examination. It gave no further information about their condition. The nationalities of those infected were not given, but their dinghy was believed to have set sail from Libya.

Malta has reported 708 confirmed cases and nine deaths so far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

A woman wearing a face mask stands outside a restaurant in downtown Mexico City, July 28, 2020. (FERNANDO LLANO / AP)

Mexico

Mexico has 7,208 new known coronavirus cases and 854 additional deaths, bringing the nation's total to 402,697 cases and 44,876 fatalities, the health ministry reported on Tuesday.

Mexico has the fourth highest death tally worldwide.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the number of confirmed cases.

Morocco

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Morocco rose to 21,387 on Tuesday after 500 new infections were added in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

The death toll rose to 327 after another 11 fatalities were recorded, said Mouad Mrabet, coordinator of the Moroccan Center for Public Health Operations at the Health Ministry, at a press briefing.

The number of recoveries increased by 513 to 17,066, Mrabet added.

Portugal

Wearing masks in public will be compulsory at all times on the popular Portuguese island of Madeira from Aug 1, the local government announced on Tuesday, making it the first region in the country to adopt such a measure against COVID-19.

Madeira, popular for its wine and green landscape, has managed to keep its tally of coronavirus cases low since the pandemic started. It has reported 105 infections, with no new cases since Saturday.

The use of masks in closed spaces and public transport is already compulsory in Madeira but now those on the streets must wear masks too.

Portugal, which as a whole has reported 50,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,722 deaths, has seen a wave of outbreaks on the outskirts of Lisbon over the past two months, forcing the government to bring back some measures across affected areas. The government is expected to ease some of those measures on Wednesday.

READ MORE: WHO chief: Global COVID-19 cases doubled over past 6 weeks

Romania

Romania's government plans to introduce new measures to help try to contain a spike in coronavirus cases, including shortening working hours for outdoor pubs and restaurants and making the wearing of protective masks outside mandatory, officials said.

A government emergency committee said late on Tuesday it would ask authorities to approve closing down outdoors bars by 2300 local time and making protective masks mandatory outside at certain times and locations where places could be crowded.

The emergency committee would also like better enforcement of social distancing guidelines at resorts on Romania's Black Sea coastline.

The number of coronavirus infections in Romania has exceeded 1,000 new cases each day for the last week, lifting confirmed cases to 47,053. Some 2,239 people have died.

Health Minister Nelu Tataru said that the number of new cases should begin to fall within two to three weeks if the rules are followed.

Russia

Russia plans to register a coronavirus vaccine by Aug 10-12, clearing the way for what its backers say would be the world’s first official approval of an inoculation against the epidemic.

The drug developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund may be approved for civilian use within three to seven days of registration by regulators, according to a person familiar with the process, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

The Gamaleya vaccine is expected to get conditional registration in August, meaning it will still need to conduct trials on another 1,600 people, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said in a televised meeting of officials with President Vladimir Putin Wednesday. Production should begin in September, she said.

“The key requirements for a vaccine are its proven effectiveness and safety so everything needs to be done very carefully and accurately,” Putin said at the end of the meeting. “Our confidence in the vaccine must be absolute.”

Earlier, state news service RIA Novosti reported the vaccine may be approved Aug 15-16. The Gamaleya Institute and RDIF declined to comment.

While the vaccine has been touted by its developers as safe and potentially the first to reach the public, the data hasn’t been published and the speed with which developers are moving has raised questions in other countries. Gamaleya is scheduled to begin Phase 3 trials next week in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Russia has over 800,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the fourth-most in the world. While the number of new daily infections is down by more than half from the peak, Putin said at the meeting some regions moved too fast when reopening after a nationwide lockdown ended in May.

Russia on Wednesday reported 5,475 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its national tally to 828,990, the fourth largest in the world.

In the daily readout, officials said 169 people died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 13,673.

Spain

Spain reported 905 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, with the regions of Catalonia, Aragon and Madrid accounting for most of them.

The cumulative total stood at 280,610 cases, according to health ministry data. The figure was up 1,828 from the previous day, and includes results from antibody tests on people who may already have recovered.

Catalonia banned informal outdoor parties popular with youngsters, saying anyone taking part would be fined up to 15,000 euros (US$17,598.00), in the latest step to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the autonomous community of Madrid became the last region on mainland Spain to confirm that wearing a face mask will be mandatory in all open and closed spaces, regardless of whether safe social distancing is or can be practiced.

People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus sit around a fountain in downtown Madrid, Spain, July 28, 2020. (MANU FERNANDEZ / AP)

Uganda

Over 2,500 Ugandans who were stranded abroad over the COVID-19 pandemic have been repatriated home during the last one month, an official with the Ministry of Health said Tuesday.

Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministry's spokesperson, said that out of the 2,591 returnees, 32 tested positive for COVID-19. Some 1,376 returnees are still under institutional quarantine.

Uganda has registered 1,135 confirmed cases, with 989 recoveries and two deaths, according to the ministry.  

UK

Britain has signed a deal for up to 60 million doses of a possible COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, it said on Wednesday, its fourth such arrangement as the race to tame the pandemic heats up.

Sanofi and GSK confirmed in a statement that regulatory approval for their vaccine could be achieved by the first half of 2021 if clinical data was positive.

It is Sanofi and GSK's first deal to supply their experimental COVID-19 vaccine to a country, and British ministers have stressed the importance of securing supplies of a range of candidates early.

The companies are also in talks to sell the vaccine to the US, the EU and global organizations, Sanofi said.

Last week, Britain struck deals for 30 million doses of an experimental BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, and a deal in principle for 60 million doses of Valneva's potential shot. That followed a previously announced pact with AstraZeneca for 100 million doses of its potential vaccine.

Britain as reported more than 302,000 confirmed cases and nearly 46,000 deaths.

The UK government was “slow, inconsistent and, at times, negligent” in providing support to care homes during the pandemic, a cross-party panel of lawmakers said. It was unclear who was responsible for the facilities and there was “a failure to issue consistent and coherent guidance throughout the pandemic,” the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee said in a report on Wednesday.

US

Florida reported a record increase in new COVID-19 deaths for a second day in a row on Wednesday, with 217 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department.

Florida also reported 9,446 new cases, bringing its total infections to over 451,000, the second highest in the country behind California. Florida’s total death toll rose to 6,457, the eighth highest in the nation, according to a Reuters tally.

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe reported four more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 40.

The country also recorded 113 new cases, raising the country's tally to 2,81, including 604 recoveries and 2,173 active cases.

Zimbabweans will mark Heroes' Day and Defense Forces Day, which fall on Aug 10 and Aug 11, respectively, without gatherings this year due to the pandemic, authorities said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's largest bank, CBZ Holdings on Tuesday shut down seven of its branches and five offices in Harare, after 35 of its employees tested positive for COVID-19. CBZ Group CEO Blessing Mudavanhu said that one of the infected workers died on Sunday.