New Covid-19 cases rose by over 69 000
across the United States on Friday, according to a Reuters
tally, setting a record for the third consecutive day as Walt
Disney Co stuck to its plans to reopen its flagship theme park
in hard-hit Florida.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
EUROPE
* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will tell employers
next week to start ordering staff back into their places of
work, as long as it is safe to do so, in order to stem the
coronavirus hit to the economy, the Daily Mail said.
* Croatia said wearing face masks will be obligatory in most
closed public spaces from next week as the number of Covid-19
cases keeps rising.
AMERICAS
* California will release up to 8 000 inmates early from
state prisons to slow the Covid-19 spread inside facilities,
state authorities said on Friday.
* Bolivian President Jeanine Anez and Venezuelan Socialist
Party leader Diosdado Cabello have tested positive for Covid-19.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Australia's second most-populous state, Victoria, reported
one of its highest daily increases in infections and warned the
numbers would get worse before they got better as its capital
city began its first weekend of a six-week lockdown.
* Vietnam's most seriously ill Covid-19 patient, a British
pilot who at one point seemed close to death, left hospital on
Saturday on his way home after a dramatic recovery that
attracted national attention.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called for big gatherings
such as weddings and wakes to be banned to stem a rise in
infections, but insisted the country's economy had to stay
open.
* The premier of Gauteng, South Africa's most populous
province, said he had tested positive for the coronavirus, as
new confirmed infections in the country hit a record daily high.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates called for Covid-19
drugs and an eventual vaccine to be made available to countries
and people that need them most, not to the "highest bidder,"
saying relying on market forces would prolong the
pandemic.
* India's Biocon Ltd has received regulatory
approval for its drug Itolizumab to be used on coronavirus
infected patients suffering from moderate to severe respiratory
distress, the biopharmaceutical company said.
* Chinese vaccine developer CanSino Biologics is
in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile and Saudi Arabia to launch a
Phase III trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine, its
co-founder said.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* The medium-term outlook for the Indian economy remains
uncertain with supply chains and demand yet to be restored fully
while the trajectory of the coronavirus spread and the length of
its impact remain unknown, Reserve Bank of India Governor
Shaktikanta Das said.
* China's banks should brace for a big jump in bad loans due
to coronavirus-induced economic pain, the financial regulator
said, noting the deterioration of asset quality at some small
and mid-sized financial institutions was
accelerating.