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.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary