Wed 19 August 2020:
More than 22 million cases of coronavirus have now been reported around the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The first cases were reported in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Coronavirus cases
- US – 5,481,557
- Brazil – 3,407,354
- India – 2,702,742
- Russia – 930,276
- South Africa – 592,144
Coronavirus deaths
- US – 171,687
- Brazil – 109,888
- Mexico – 57,023
- India – 51,797
- UK – 41,466
Australian PM says vaccine should be mandatory
Australia should make any coronavirus vaccine compulsory for its 25 million citizens bar medical exemptions, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Wednesday, wading into a heated ethical debate.
After reaching a deal for the country to manufacture a “promising” vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, Morrison said getting the jab should be “as mandatory as you can possibly make it”.
“There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis,” he told radio station 3AW in Melbourne.
Anticipating a backlash from vocal anti-vaccine activists, Morrison said the stakes were too high to allow the disease to continue unchecked.
UK expands COVID-19 national testing study
The British government said it would expand its COVID-19 national testing study, with an aim of reaching 400,000 people to provide weekly data on the spread of the infection and better locate future local outbreaks.
The Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement that it would initially test 150,000 people in England per fortnight by October, up from 28,000 people now, aiming to eventually reach 400,000 across the United Kingdom.
The testing survey, undertaken by the Office for National Statistics, would also be extended to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
China and US to double flights between the two countries
After curbing travel between the two countries because of the coronavirus pandemic, China and the United States are beginning to ease restrictions.
The US Department of Transportation says it will allow the four Chinese passenger airlines currently flying to the US to double flights to eight weekly round-trips, as China agrees to allow US carriers to double their flights to China.
Turkey sends medical aid to Venezuela
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Caracas as his country delivered medical equipment to help crisis-stricken Venezuela deal with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Turkey has been one of the key backers of President Nicolas Maduro, who has overseen a six-year economic crisis in the once-prosperous OPEC nation, but has so far withstood an 18-month effort by the United States to oust him through sanctions on the country’s oil sector.
At least 34,802 cases of novel coronavirus have been reported in Venezuela with the country’s death toll from the disease at 288.
Photo: El Salvador Anadolu Agency Photojournalist Alex Pena
