US is the worst-hit country with the world’s highest number of cases and deaths at 2,59,09,336 and 4,36,541
People wearing face masks use a chair to skate across the surface of a frozen canal in Beijing. Pic/AP
The total number of global Coronavirus cases has topped 102 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.20 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. On Saturday morning, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 102,007,480 and 2,204,494, respectively.
ADVERTISEMENT
Belgium sees surge in kids
The number of new Coronavirus cases has more than doubled among children under the age of 10 in one week in Belgium, a top health official said here. Yves Van Laethem, the inter-federal COVID-19 spokesman said the actual rate of increase was 128 per cent. The increase in contaminations among teenagers was 41 per cent, he said. “Currently in Belgium, three-quarters of the new cases detected are linked to children or teenagers,” he said. The increase is due to the scale of screening campaigns focusing on clusters within schools.
No eating while travelling
Passengers aboard trains, buses and ships across Taiwan will be banned from eating and drinking from February 1 amid a resurgence of COVID-19, the Transport Department said. Eating and drinking will also be prohibited on planes, except on international and cross-Strait flights. Airports, railway stations, harbours, highway service areas and tourist sites will double the frequency of disinfection from February 8 to 16, the prime season for homecoming during the Spring Festival, the statement said.
Canada suspends flights
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced new measures against curbing the spread of COVID-19, including the suspension of flights from the country to the Caribbean and Mexico until April. “With the challenges we currently face with COVID-19, both here at home and abroad, we all agree that now is just not the time to be flying,”
France’s new restrictions
French Prime Minister Jean Castex has announced that the country will impose a series of tighter restrictions from Sunday onwards, including border control, in an effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading further.
“We will do everything we can to avoid a new lockdown,” the Prime Minister said after a defence council on the pandemic. Shopping malls with a surface area of more than 20,000 square metres will be closed, and police controls will be intensified against people breaking the curfew and testing will be reinforced, he added.
Japan’s emergency period
The Governors of the Japanese capital Tokyo and its three neighbouring prefectures had a meeting, during which they discussed a possible extension of the incumbent state of emergency due to an unabated increase in new cases.
On Friday, Tokyo, the hardest-hit by pandemic among Japan’s 47 prefectures, reported 868 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the city’s total infection tally to 98,439.
In the wake of the medical system becoming increasing strained and growing numbers of infected patients being unable to secure beds in hospitals, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said, “We need to take strict precautions, as the number of people testing positive remains high.”
Saudi extends travel ban
Saudi Arabia has announced the extension of a travel ban till May 17, as part of the Kingdom’s precautionary measures against the pandemic. The ban on citizens departing the Kingdom and the opening of all sea, land and air borders was scheduled to be lifted on March 31.
10,20,07,480
TOTAL Number OF CORONAVIRUS
CASES IN THE WORLD
22,04,494
Number OF DEATHS WORLDWIDE
56,524,944
Number OF RECOVERED PATIENTS
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
