Keeping you up to date on the latest novel coronavirus (Covid-19) news from around the world.

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Russia records more than 10 000 new virus cases

Moscow – Russia registered more than 10 000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, continuing a grim trend that has seen the country become a global virus hotspot.

Health officials reported 10 028 new cases over the last 24 hours, bringing Russia’s total number of infections to 242 271.

The Kremlin this week eased a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus, despite a steady rise in numbers that has brought Russia to second place in a global tally of infections, behind the United States.

A majority of Russia’s new cases were registered in the capital, a government virus tally said, where Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has extended a lockdown until the end of May.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday became the most recent senior figure in government to announce they had tested positive for the coronavirus. He told reporters he was receiving treatment in hospital.

 – AFP

Russia halts use of ventilators tied to deadly hospital fires

Moscow – Russia’s healthcare regulator on Wednesday ordered a stop to the use of ventilators believed to have caused two fires at coronavirus hospitals that left six people dead.

The federal regulator Roszdravnadzor “has halted the use on Russian territory of…Aventa-M ventilators produced from April 1, 2020” by a Urals factory, part of the state conglomerate Rostec.

The devices were used to treat patients in hospitals in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg where fires broke out over the past week, a statement said.

The fire in Moscow’s Spasokukotsky hospital killed one person last week, while a blaze in a medical facility in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday left five dead.

Russia’s deputy prime minister overseeing healthcare, Tatiana Golikova, said on Tuesday that investigators are looking into the circumstances of the fires.

 – AFP

Maduro extends lockdown measures in Venezuela

Caracas – Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro announced on Tuesday he was extending his country’s lockdown measures against the coronavirus for a further 30 days.

“I will renew the 30-day state-of-alert decree in order to continue to protect our people,” the Socialist president said in one of his near-daily televised addresses to the nation.

Maduro imposed the nationwide lockdown on 13 March and has previously extended it in mid-April. He said 423 infections had been detected in the crisis-worn South American country, with 10 deaths.

However, those figures have been challenged by his opposition rival Juan Guaido, who says the number of infections and the death toll from the virus are far greater in a country where the health service has collapsed during years of economic crisis.

In principle, people are allowed to leave their homes only for medical visits or to shop for food, but violations are increasingly commonplace, especially in Caracas and the poorest regions of the country where people mostly survive in the informal economy.

 – AFP

Montenegro holds eight priests for lockdown violation

Podgorica – Montenegrin police detained a Serbian Orthodox bishop and seven priests suspected of violating lockdown measures against the novel coronavirus by organising a procession, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Several thousand people took part in the procession held on Tuesday evening in the northwestern town of Niksic to celebrate Saint Basil, an important local Orthodox saint.

Police detained Niksic Bishop Joanikije and seven priests who were remanded in custody for 72 hours. They are accused of “failing to comply with health regulations to combat a dangerous infectious disease”, a prosecutors’ statement said.

The eight “violated the ban on public gatherings and organized a religious service in the streets of Niksic, attended by a large number of citizens”, the statement said.

If found guilty they face up to 12 years in jail.

Lockdown measures were eased this week in the Balkan nation allowing mass to be held in churches. Believers have to respect social distancing measures and wear facial masks.

 – AFP

Surge in virus deaths rocks northern Nigeria

Kano – Surging death tolls in northern Nigeria have sparked fears that coronavirus is spreading out, combining with established diseases to pose a lethal threat in a region where medical care is poor.

In the past month, the city of Kano, the most populous city in the north of the country, has witnessed hundreds of deaths, particularly among the elderly. At first authorities blamed the fatalities on ailments including diabetes, hypertension and malaria – but a team of government investigators later said most were suspected to be linked to coronavirus.

Kano state has officially confirmed 666 infections and 32 deaths from coronavirus, making it the hardest-hit region in Nigeria after megacity Lagos. Testing has been severely limited but as capacity has picked up in recent days so the number of cases has climbed steadily.

Now the surge in unexplained deaths has spread to neighbouring areas, sending local authorities scrambling to figure out the cause. A team of epidemiologists has been sent to the town of Azare in Bauchi state, where 110 deaths were reported in the past week, local traditional chief Mahmood Abdullahi said.

 – AFP

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