Coronavirus latest: Brazil’s death toll tops 70,000
– The US now has 3.2 million cases of COVID-19
– Texas has over 10,000 hospitalized patients with COVID-19, with the governor warning that ‘things will get worse’
– Brazil’s death toll has crossed 70,000, while the total number of global deaths has crossed 557,000
05:08 German researchers testing a vaccination for the coronavirus say they’re stunned at the number of people willing to become volunteers.
Some 4,000 people have so far registered to take part in the trials at the University Hospital in Tübingen.
“It’s a real luxury situation, unlike usual clinical trials,” study director Peter Kremsner told the German press agency. “Normally we have trouble coming up with enough test subjects.”
A clinical study began in mid-June to test the tolerability of a vaccine developed by the biopharmaceutical company CureVac.
Since then, around 50 people have received the drug. According to Kremsner, no surprising side effects have yet occurred.
So far everything has been fine, he said, adding that the study had not revealed any sensational or concerning findings.
A total of 168 subjects are to be vaccinated – in addition to Tübingen, also in test centers in Ghent, Belgium, Hannover and Munich.
If the phase 1 trial is successful, investigations with significantly more test subjects will follow.
04:55 An unexplained outbreak of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is likely due to the coronavirus, the emergencies chief of the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Dr. Michael Ryan says Kazakh authorities have reported more than 10,000 lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last week and just under 50,000 cases and 264 deaths as of Tuesday.
“We’re looking at the actual testing and the quality of testing to make sure that there haven’t been false negative tests for some of those other pneumonias that are provisionally tested negative,” Ryan said.
He added that many pneumonia cases were likely to be COVID-19 and “just have not been diagnosed correctly.'”
On Thursday, the Chinese embassy in the central Asian country warned on its website of a disease with “a mortality rate far higher than COVID-19” — an assertion that was later removed from the statement.
Kazakh health officials dismissed the report saying the claim the did not “correspond to reality.”
04:26 The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has increased by 378 to 198,556, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday.
The reported death toll rose by six to 9,060, the tally showed.
The country has recently seen clusters of cases linked to housing blocks and a slaughterhouse, where more than 1,500 workers tested positive for the virus.
This caused a lockdown for 600,000 people in the surrounding Gütersloh region of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia which was lifted this week.
Read more: Brief reprieve for German pigs as COVID-19 shuts slaughterhouses
02:54 Customs authorities in China said they would halt imports from three Ecuadorian shrimp producers after tests showed the presence of coronavirus in recent shipments.
As newcoronavirus cases have dropped sharply in China, health authorities are turning their attention to concerns that the virus could spread through imported food.
Testing has now been increased on incoming food shipments, customs officials have said.
Coronavirus was reportedly detected on the outer packaging of the Ecuadorian shrimp shipments on July 3. But the inner packaging and the shrimp themselves tested negative.
All the products from the three companies that received after March 12 have been ordered to be returned or destroyed.
Read more: WHO experts head to China for prelude to coronavirus probe
01:45: The US recorded 63,643 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The US now has 3.2 million cases of the coronavirus.
Eight US states recorded the highest infections in a single day. The governor of Texas warned that the state could impose new lockdown measures if it could not control the spread of the pandemic.
The country reported 774 new deaths on Friday, and now has a total death toll of 133,969.
Meanwhile, the state of California said that it would release 8,000 prisoners ahead of schedule, to control a growing outbreak inside the state prisons.
More than 2,000 prisoners have tested positive for the coronavirus, while 31 have died.
01:05 Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Serbia for the fourth day in a row, with citizens decrying the government’s botched coronavirus response.
Hundreds have tried to storm the parliament building in Belgrade, with police firing tear gas.
The country faces a “dramatic increase” in both infections and fatalities, according to Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Protesters blame the government for the new pandemic peak. Strongman Aleksandar Vucic had imposed draconian lockdown measures before lifting virtually all of them in an apparent bid to hold a parliamentary election last month.
With the latest wave of infections and deaths, Vucic rejected the blame and instead urged the citizens not to be “irresponsible.”
The ongoing unrest was prompted by his Tuesday announcement that Serbia would go back to imposing lockdown measures and lengthy curfews.
Vucic has blamed the unrest on criminals, political rivals, and foreign intelligence agencies.
00:59: The governor of Texas has warned that ‘things will get worse’ in the state, after Texas recorded 95 new deaths on Friday.
Texas now has over 10,000 patients hospitalized with the coronavirus. Members of Congress from the state have requested the US government for a field hospital in the Rio Grande valley.
“There is no indication that case counts will level out soon,” they warned in a letter.
00:00: Brazil reported 1,200 new deaths from the coronavirus on Friday.
The country’s total death toll has now reached 70,400 – the second highest in the world, after the US.
The health ministry said that 45,000 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 1.8 million.
President Jair Bolsonaro is also among the infected.
00:00 Catch up on Friday’s coronavirus news here: Coronavirus latest: WHO logs new daily record in global virus cases
In reporting on the coronavirus pandemic, unless otherwise specified, DW uses figures provided by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Coronavirus Resource Center in the United States. JHU updates figures in real-time, collating data from world health organizations, state and national governments, and other public official sources, all of whom have their own systems for compiling information.
Germany’s national statistics are compiled by its public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). These figures depend on data transmission from state and local levels and are updated around once a day, which can lead to deviation from JHU.
am,jcg/dj (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
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