05 July,2020 05:10 AM IST | Geneva | Agencies
Children take part in a gymnastics class in Shenyang. Pic/AFP
The World Health Organisation is finally sending a team to China next week to prepare to investigate the source of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement made earlier this week came amid accusations from some quarters that the virus might have originated in a laboratory in China.
"WHO has been saying that knowing the source of the virus is very, very important. It's science, it's public health. We can fight the virus better when we know everything about the virus, including how it started," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a media briefing.
"We will be sending a team next week to China to prepare for that and we hope that will lead into understanding how the virus started and what we can do for the future to prepare. So we're planning to send a team next week," he said.
US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier said that the virus might have originated in a laboratory in China. China has denied the allegations.
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PARIS: Air France management said on Friday that it planned to eliminate 7,580 jobs at the airline and its regional unit Hop! by the end of 2022 because of the crisis."For three months, Air France's activity and turnover have plummeted 95 per cent," said the group.
South Korea was on high alert as new Coronvavirus cases exceeded 60 on Saturday for the second straight day, with infections outside the Seoul metropolitan area showing no signs of slowdown. The country added 63 cases, which are composed of 36 local infections and 27 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 13,030.
The US, which currently accounts for the highest number of Coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, has registered more than 50,000 new infections for the third consecutive day amid a sudden surge in 40 out of the 50 states in the country. According to the Johns Hopkins University, the US on Friday reported at least 51,842 new cases, taking the overall number of infections to 27,93,425, while the death toll stood at 1,29,432.
The girlfriend of President Donald Trump's eldest son has tested positive for Coronavirus, US media reported Friday. Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former television personality who is dating Donald Trump Jr, had travelled to South Dakota to see the US president's Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore. Guilfoyle, 51, was immediately isolated after discovering she had the virus in a test conducted on anyone expected to come in close contact with the president.
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