Scores of domestic flights in and out of
Beijing were cancelled on Wednesday as officials ramped up
attempts to contain a coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese
capital over the past week that has sparked fears of renewed
wider contagion.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* More than 8.18 million people have been reported to be
infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 440,954 have
died, a Reuters tally showed as of 1633 GMT on Tuesday.
EUROPE
* Germany appealed to the public to download a new
smartphone app to help break the chain of infections, one of
several such apps that European governments hope will revive
travel and tourism safely.
* Residents of Moscow were able to return to museums and
summer terraces for the first time in more than two months as
the Russian capital rolled back curbs despite continuing to
record over 1,000 new daily infections.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin is protected from the
novel coronavirus by a special disinfection tunnel that anyone
visiting his residence outside Moscow must pass through, RIA
news agency reported.
* The number of people who died from coronavirus infection
in France rose by 111 to 29,547 on Tuesday with the health
ministry including weekly data for the death toll in nursing
homes.
AMERICAS
* New coronavirus infections hit record highs in six U.S.
states on Tuesday, marking a rising tide of cases for a second
consecutive week as most states moved forward with reopening
their economies.
* The Trump administration said it would extend existing
restrictions on non-essential travel at land ports of entry with
Canada and Mexico.
* Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said he had been
diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, is receiving treatment and
will work remotely and through his aides.
* Mexico went into the coronavirus outbreak insisting it
would beat the pandemic without mass testing, but with deaths
surging as it prepares to exit lockdown, the strategy looks
increasingly untenable.
* Mexico will stop sending temporary workers to Canadian
farms that have registered a coronavirus outbreak and that do
not have proper worker protections, the labor ministry said.
* Brazil reported a record 34,918 new coronavirus cases on
Tuesday, the same day that one of the senior officials leading
the country's widely criticized response to the crisis said the
outbreak was under control.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Beijing recorded 31 new confirmed infections for June 16,
bringing the cumulative infections since Thursday to 137 cases,
the worst resurgence of the disease in the city since early
February.
* Japanese researchers confirmed the presence of the
coronavirus in wastewater plants, a finding that could serve as
a signal for future outbreaks.
* Delhi's local health minister checked into hospital and
was being tested for the coronavirus as India reported more than
10,500 new infections.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Israel signed an agreement with Moderna Inc for
the future purchase of its potential vaccine should the company
succeed in its development.
* Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos has suspended plans to
reopen places of worship after a review of the new outbreak, the
state governor said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A cheap and widely used steroid called dexamethasone has
become the first drug shown to be able to save the lives of
Covid-19 patients in what scientists said is a "major
breakthrough" in the coronavirus pandemic.
* US President Donald Trump's administration is narrowing
its list of promising experimental coronavirus vaccines to about
seven from 14, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
said.
* China National Biotec Group said its experimental vaccine
has triggered antibodies in clinical trials and the company
plans late-stage human trials in foreign countries.
* France's president and top drugmaker Sanofi
announced plans to bolster domestic production of medicines.
* Unlisted biotech firm CureVac, which is due to receive
German state backing, will become the second coronavirus vaccine
developer to launch human trials of an experimental immunisation
in the country, two people familiar with the plans told
Reuters.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* A full US economic recovery will not occur until
American people are sure that the epidemic has been brought
under control, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said.
* Worries about the deepening impact of the new coronavirus
kept Japanese business confidence depressed in June, as firms
braced for a prolonged global economic downturn, the Reuters
Tankan survey showed on Wednesday.
* Japan's oil imports slumped in May to the lowest in almost
three decades, official figures showed on Wednesday, as the
coronavirus outbreak hit demand for crude and fuel.
* US bank profits fell by 69.6% to $18.5 billion in the
first quarter of 2020, according to data from a banking
regulator.
* The number of people on British payrolls fell by more than
600,000 in April and May, and vacancies plunged by the most on
record.