Europe could face a surge of Covid-19
infections caused by mass protests over the last few days
against racism after the death of George Floyd, a black man who
died in police custody in the United States, according to
politicians, European Union officials and experts.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* More than 7.53 million people have been reported infected
with the novel coronavirus around the world and 420,808 have
died, a Reuters tally showed as of 0504 GMT on Friday.
EUROPE
* Total cases in Germany increased by 258 to 185 674 and the
death toll by eight to 8,763, data from the Robert Koch
Institute for infectious diseases showed.
* England's Covid-19 Trace and Track programme is
functioning effectively nationwide, although it can still be
improved, programme leader Dido Harding said after the first
numbers of people tested and traced were published.
AMERICAS
* About half a dozen states including Texas and Arizona are
grappling with a rising number of coronavirus patients filling
hospital beds, fanning concerns that the reopening of the U.S.
economy may spark a second wave of infections.
* From apple packing houses in Washington state to farm
workers in Florida and a California county known as "the world's
salad bowl," outbreaks of the coronavirus are emerging at U.S.
fruit and vegetable farms and packing plants.
* Shoppers in Brazil, which surpassed a total count of
800 000 on Thursday, lined up for hours and crowded into malls
in the country's two largest cities after they reopened.
* Mexico reported 4,790 new infections and 587 additional
fatalities on Thursday.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* South Korea will extend its prevention and sanitation
guidelines until daily new infections drop to single digits, the
health minister said, failing which he warned of a return to
tough social distancing measures.
* India reported a total of 297 535 cases, surpassing the
United Kingdom to become the fourth worst affected country in
the world.
* Australia has effectively eliminated Covid-19 in some
parts of the country, its chief medical officer has said.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* The pandemic is accelerating in Africa, spreading to the
hinterland from capital cities where it arrived with travellers,
the World Health Organization said.
* Lebanese cut roadways with burning tyres and rubbish bins
across Beirut and other cities in renewed protests sparked by a
rapid fall in the pound currency and mounting economic hardship.
* Tanzania has begun negotiations with creditors over a G20
nations initiative over debt relief, the finance minister
said.
* Egypt will open its main seaside resorts for international
flights and foreign tourists from July 1, the cabinet said.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* Asian shares fell sharply on Friday after Wall Street and
oil tumbled over growing concerns that a resurgence of
coronavirus infections could stunt the pace of recovery in
economies reopening from lockdowns.
* The economic fallout from the pandemic could plunge an
extra 395 million people into extreme poverty and swell the
total number of those living on less than $1.90 a day worldwide
to more than 1 billion, according to a report.