Boris Johnson wears a mask during his visit to the headquarters of the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust on July 13.

Coronavirus Global Updates: Coronavirus has infected over 16.4 million people worldwide and claimed 6,53,353 lives, with the United States, Brazil and India leading the WHO list of worst affected countries. On Monday, the world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccine study got underway with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the US government — one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race. There’s still no guarantee that the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc, will really protect.

Meanwhile, the United Nations warned that Coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, killing an estimated 10,000 more young children a month as meager farms are cut off from markets and villages are isolated from food and medical aid.  More than 550,000 additional children each month are being struck by what is called wasting, according to the UN, malnutrition that manifests in spindly limbs and distended bellies. Over a year, that’s up 6.7 million from last year’s total of 47 million. Wasting and stunting can permanently damage children physically and mentally.

People wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus walk through an outdoor shopping area in Beijing, Saturday, July 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

UK PM Boris Johnson says ‘signs of second wave’ appearing in parts of Europe

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said today that ‘signs of a second wave of the pandemic’ are starting to appear in some parts of Europe, as reported by the Guardian. He made the statement while defending Spain’s quarantine due to fears of second Covid-19 peak.

<p “width=420″ lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>NEWS: Boris Johnson defends Spain quarantine due to fears of second COVID-19 peak.

“Let’s be absolutely clear about what’s happening in Europe, amongst some of our European friends, I’m afraid you are starting to see in some places the signs of a second wave of the pandemic.”— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) July 28, 2020

Virus vanguard: Cape Town learned painful lessons early on

When Cape Town emerged as Africa’s first coronavirus hot spot, Dr. Abu Mowlana was surprised by the fear that broke out among his colleagues. Morale was crashing among doctors and nurses at Tygerberg Hospital even as infections surged in May and June, recalled Mowlana, one of the senior doctors leading the COVID-19 response there. The staff at the city’s largest hospital soon was fighting two battles: one against their own fear and another against the new disease that was killing their patients.

“It’s scary for the public but it’s scary for all of us,” he said. Everybody is scared. The critical-care physician. The guy in the wards. The guy cleaning. Everybody. By the end of June, when the virus was reaching its peak in Cape Town and the surrounding Western Cape province, the area had 62,481 of South Africa’s 151,209 total cases, more than 40 per cent, according to government figures. And 1,859 of South Africa’s 2,657 total deaths at the time from COVID-19 were in the province.

Pakistan’s coronavirus tally reaches 274,908

Pakistan’s coronavirus tally reached 274,908 with the detection of 936 new cases in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday. Twenty-three more people died overnight due to coronavirus-related complications, pushing the nationwide death toll to 5,865.

As many as 242,436 patients have recovered so far in the country, the ministry said. With the detection of the 936 new cases, the total number of infections rose to 274,908, it said. Sindh reported the maximum number of 118,824 cases, followed by 92,279 in Punjab, 33,510 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 14,938 in Islamabad, 11,624 in Balochistan, 2,040 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and 2,010 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

New cases continue to rise in China’s Xinjiang

New coronavirus cases continue to rise in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, with 57 reported on Tuesday.

Beijing also reported its first case of domestic transmission in more than two weeks, while the northeastern province of Liaoning added another six cases in its local outbreak. Another four cases were found among Chinese travelers arriving from outside the country, bringing the daily total over the past 24 hours to 68.

Despite the new clusters, China appears to have largely contained the virus and the death toll remains at 4,634 among 83,959 cases.

Xinjiang’s outbreak has centered on the region’s capital and largest city, Urumqi, where authorities have restricted public transport, isolated some communities and ordered testing among those considered at risk of infection.

People wait for a distribution of masks and food in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Pence visits Florida to discuss COVID-19 vaccine

Vice President Mike Pence visited Florida to hold a round table with University of Miami researchers to speak about the final-stage testing of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine.

Pence said the government would not rush the process to approve a vaccine. FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the timeline for the vaccine trials had been compressed, and the agency was conducting real-time review of the data.

“We want to ensure we move at a safe and effective pace. I want to assure the people of Florida and people all across this country that we will cut no corners in the development of this or any vaccine,” Pence told reporters after the round table on Monday.

Google to keep most of its employees at home until July 2021

Google has decided that most of its 200,000 employees and contractors should work from home through next June, a sobering assessment of the pandemic’s potential staying power from the company providing the answers for the world’s most trusted internet search engine.

The remote-work order issued Monday by Google CEO Sundar Pichai also affects other companies owned by Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet Inc. It marks a six-month extension of Google’s previous plan to keep most of its offices closed through the rest of this year.

“I know this extended timeline may come with mixed emotions and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourselves,” wrote Pichai, who is also Alphabet’s CEO, in an email to employees.

80,000 people fleeing Vietnamese city after new virus cases

About 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, are being evacuated from the popular Vietnamese beach city of Da Nang after more than a dozen people there were confirmed to have COVID-19, the government said Monday.

Vietnam, widely seen as a success in dealing with the coronavirus, reimposed a social distancing order in Da Nang following the confirmation of the cases, the first known to be locally transmitted in the country in over three months.

A 57-year-old man was confirmed to be infected by the coronavirus on Saturday, the country’s first local case since April. Three more cases were confirmed over the weekend, followed by 11 more on Monday, the Ministry of Health said.
On Sunday, the government reimposed a social distancing order on the city.

The new outbreak sparked fear among tourists in the city, with many cutting their trips short.

In China, airlines plug ‘all you can fly’ deals to pierce coronavirus clouds

China Southern Airlines on Tuesday rolled out an ‘all you can fly’ pass, becoming the latest in a fleet of cash-strapped carriers to join a promotional craze that analysts say has helped revive a coronavirus-ravaged air travel market. At least eight of China’s dozens of airlines have introduced similar deals since June, often priced around $500 for in some cases unlimited flights. Industry watchers say the packages have been a shot in the arm, with costs offset by otherwise empty seats being filled in a country where daily flights last month recovered to 80% of pre-coronavirus levels. The global aviation industry is keenly eyeing China as a pilot for air travel recovery trends, as the country reopened its economy months earlier than other places after managing to bring the pandemic mostly under control – at least for now.

Virus exacts a heavy toll in Queens neighborhood of Corona

Damiana Reyes is back at work at a busy Manhattan hair salon, making highlights, blowouts and extensions. But her mind often drifts to her father, with whom she lived in Queens, before he succumbed to the coronavirus at age 76.

“All my clients ask about him and then, when I return home, people ask me in the street where he is. It’s a constant reminder that he is not around anymore,” said Reyes, who thinks her father got sick while playing dominoes at a day care center for elders.

The pandemic has changed Reyes’ life and those of many in Corona, a Latino neighborhood in Queens that was among the hardest hit places in the world.

Even though tropical music emerges from recently reopened stores and some people sit outside at restaurants offering sidewalk dining, the lingering effects of COVID-19 are noticeable. Hunger and joblessness are rising. Survivors are still grieving lost loved ones.