Health News Roundup: Russia reports 9,434 new coronavirus; Brazil registers 965 new coronavirus deaths and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 24-05-2020 10:36 IST | Created: 24-05-2020 10:29 IST
Health News Roundup: Russia reports 9,434 new coronavirus; Brazil registers 965 new coronavirus deaths and more
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China reports three new coronavirus cases after the first day with none

China recorded three new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland for May 23, following the first day with no new cases since the outbreak began, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Sunday. Of the new cases, two were imported while one was a local transmission, the NHC said.

Mexico reports 65,856 coronavirus cases, 7,179 deaths

Mexican health authorities registered 3,329 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the country and 190 new deaths, a health official said on Saturday, bringing the total number to 65,856 cases and 7,179 deaths.

Brazil registers 965 new coronavirus deaths, confirmed cases hit 347,398

Brazil registered 965 new coronavirus deaths on Saturday, taking the total number of fatalities to 22,013, the Health Ministry said. The country now has 347,398 confirmed cases, according to the ministry, up 16,508 from Friday, when it surpassed Russia to become the world's virus hot spot behind the United States.

South America a new COVID epicenter, Africa reaches 100,000 cases

South America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "The COVID-19 pandemic today reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago," the WHO said in a statement, noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.

Project leader: Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine trial has a 50% chance of success - Telegraph

The University of Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine trial has only a 50% chance of success as the coronavirus seems to be fading rapidly in Britain, the professor co-leading the development of the vaccine told the Telegraph newspaper https://bit.ly/2LQTNos. Adrian Hill, director of Oxford's Jenner Institute, which has teamed up with drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc to develop the vaccine, said that an upcoming trial, involving 10,000 volunteers, threatened to return "no result" due to low transmission of COVID-19 in the community.

U.S. CDC reports a total of 1,595,885 coronavirus cases, 96,002 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported 1,595,885 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 24,268 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,852 to 96,002. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 22, compared with its count a day earlier.

Thailand begins coronavirus vaccine trials on monkeys

Thailand on Saturday began testing a vaccine against the coronavirus on monkeys after positive trials in mice, an official said. Thailand's minister of higher education, science, and research and innovation, Suvit Maesincee, said researchers had moved to test the vaccine to monkeys and hoped to have a "clearer outcome" of its effectiveness by September.

Russia reports 9,434 new coronavirus infections

Russia said on Saturday that 9,434 new cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported in the last 24 hours, pushing its nationwide tally to 335,882. The country's coronavirus crisis response center reported 139 new fatalities after a record of 150 deaths the day before, bringing the death toll to 3,388.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 431 to 178,281: RKI

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 431 to 178,281, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose by 31 to 8,247, the tally showed.

French COVID-19 cases slow and patient tallies continue to fall

Coronavirus infection rates in France have slowed further and the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital and intensive care continued to fall, health ministry figures showed, a sign that social distancing is keeping contagion in check for now. Nearly two weeks after the lockdown ended, health ministry data on Saturday showed the number of confirmed cases rose by 250 to 144,806 over 24 hours, an increase of 0.2%, below the average 0.3% increase of the past seven days and well below the average 0.8% increase seen in the last week of lockdown.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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