Global COVID-19 infections have surpassed 10 million as the rate of new cases surges, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally yesterday showed.
One million new cases were recorded in only six days, while the worldwide death toll is also nearing 500,000.
The US, the hardest hit country, has surpassed 2.5 million cases alone.
Photo: Reuters
Infections are also up in some other parts of the world that have reopened, with Europe now registering more than 2.6 million, according to the AFP tally based on official sources.
New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus is still circulating widely in Europe, while experts say all the figures significantly undercount the true toll, due to limited testing and missed mild cases.
On Saturday alone the US recorded more than 43,000 new cases, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed. US deaths exceed 125,000, about one-quarter the world total.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has conceded there has been an “explosion” in new cases in his state, which on Saturday recorded 9,585 cases in 24 hours, a new daily record.
US President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign has confirmed that events featuring Vice President Mike Pence in Arizona and Florida this week have been postponed “out of an abundance of caution.”
Russia yesterday recorded 6,791 new cases, bringing its confirmed infections to more than 634,000, the third-highest number in the world after the US and Brazil.
Brazil recorded 990 deaths on Saturday, the highest toll in the world that day, while Mexico recorded the second-highest at 719.
The EU on Saturday pushed back a final decision on a list of “safe countries” from which travelers can visit Europe.
Meanwhile music stars and groups, including Coldplay and Jennifer Hudson, on Saturday lent support to a European Commission-led drive that raised 6.15 billion euros (US$6.9 billion) to support vaccine research and help make it available to poorer nations.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat