Keeping you up to date on the latest novel coronavirus
(Covid-19) news from around the world.
FOLLOW LIVE | Lockdown draft regulations leaked, SA braces for Ramaphosa’s next Covid-19 address
US adds
1 127 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours – Johns Hopkins
Washington
– The United States recorded a further 1 127 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday,
bringing its total to 97 048 since the global pandemic began, according to a
tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The country has also officially
logged 1 621 658 cases of the virus, far more than any other nation, the
tracker kept by the Baltimore-based university showed at 20:30 (00:30 GMT
Sunday).
– AFP
Wuhan
lab had three live bat coronaviruses – Chinese state media
Beijing
– The Chinese virology institute at the centre of US allegations it may have
been the source of the Covid-19 pandemic has three live strains of bat
coronavirus on-site, but none match the new global contagion, its director has
said.
Scientists think Covid-19 – which
first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has killed more than 340
000 people worldwide – originated in bats and could have been transmitted to
people via another mammal.
But the director of the Wuhan
Institute of Virology told state broadcaster CGTN that claims made by US
President Donald Trump and others that the virus could have leaked from the
facility were “pure fabrication”.
In the interview filmed on 13 May,
but broadcast on Saturday night, Wang Yanyi said the centre has “isolated
and obtained some coronaviruses from bats”.
“Now we have three strains
of live viruses… But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 only reaches 79.8%,”
she said, referring to the coronavirus strain that causes Covid-19.
– AFP
Fresh
protests against virus measures held in Germany
Berlin
– Dozens of demonstrations were held across Germany on Saturday as part of a
protest movement against coronavirus lockdown measures which is gaining
momentum.
The rallies have been held weekly
since the start of April, swelling in recent weeks to gatherings of thousands
in major German cities.
The movement sees the government
restrictions to curb the spread of the virus as the beginning of an
authoritarian regime or an illegal attack on individual freedoms. Nearly 30
rallies were held in Berlin, as well as counter-demonstrations, a police spokesperson
told AFP.
Protests were also held across
the country, including in Nuremberg, Munich and Stuttgart, though not as many
as in recent weeks, mainly due to bad weather.
– AFP
DR Congo
officials deny coronavirus figures manipulated
Kinshasa
– Government officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have denied any
manipulation of its figures for coronavirus cases and deaths.
The controversy came as health
officials announced DR Congo’s latest Covid-19 figures which stand at 63 deaths
from 2 025 cases, most of them in the capital, Kinshasa. So far, 312 people
have recovered. The vast central African country, one of the world’s poorest,
reported its first case on 10 March.
Late on Friday, the government
reported that a doctor and a hospital administrator had been arrested and later
released over accusations of falsely declared coronavirus cases.
The arrests were made after “a controversy over a patient who died this month”, said a government
news bulletin.
– AFP
French
churches reopen as coronavirus restrictions loosened
Paris
– French churches were preparing to hold their first Sunday masses in more than
two months after the government bowed to a ruling that they should be reopened –
provided proper precautions were taken.
Nearly two weeks into the
relaxation of its shutdown, the government finally allowed churches, mosques
and synagogues to reopen.
Last Monday, the France’s Council
of State, which instructs the government on legal issues, ordered it to lift
its sweeping ban on all religious services, in place since the lockdown.
The ruling said that such a ban
on freedom of worship caused “damage that is serious and manifestly
illegal”, ordering the government to lift the ban within eight days. But
priests, pastors, rabbis and imams will still have to ensure that the correct
safety measures are in force.
– AFP
New
York’s daily virus death toll falls below 100 – governor
Washington
– The number of deaths in New York state caused by the novel coronavirus in the
last 24 hours was 84, the lowest one-day total since late March, Governor
Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday.
“The news is good
news,” Cuomo said in his daily televised briefing.
Hospitalisations, intubations and
new infections were all in decline, he added.
“In my head, I was always
looking to get under 100,” Cuomo said, speaking from the governor’s
mansion in Albany.
“It
doesn’t do good for any of those 84 families that are feeling the pain,”
he added. “But for me it’s just a sign we are making real progress.”
– AFP
Pressure
grows on UK PM Johnson as aide faces more lockdown breach claims
London
– British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under increased pressure on Sunday
to sack top aide Dominic Cummings who was facing allegations that he had
breached coronavirus lockdown rules for a second time.
The British government has so far
rejected calls to sack Cummings over allegations he broke coronavirus lockdown
rules by travelling across the country with his wife while she was suffering
from symptoms of the disease, but even MPs from his own party were calling for
him to leave on Sunday.
Cummings was seen with his young
son close to his parents’ home in Durham, northeastern England, more than 400km
away from his London home on 31 March, the day after he himself reported
suffering symptoms.
The Observer and Sunday Mirror
reported that he had broken lockdown restrictions again and was seen in Durham
a second time on 19 April, days after he had returned to work in London
following his first trip north, quoting anonymous witnesses.
Cummings
strenuously denies the claims and Downing Street said late on Saturday said it “would not waste time” responding to “campaigning
newspapers”.
– AFP