COVID-19 Live Updates: Brazil Registers Nearly 40,000 New Coronavirus Cases in Past 24 Hours

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Brazil has increased by nearly 40,000 over the past 24 hours - up from 21,432 the previous day, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement.

The day before, Brazil's overall case tally stood at 1,106,470 and the death toll was 51,271. A total of 39,436 cases have been confirmed over the past day, so the number of cases reached 1,145,906. The death count has risen by 1,374 - up from yesterday's 654 - to 52,645.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The global cumulative toll of confirmed coronavirus cases is approaching a milestone of 9 million, with 133,326 cases recorded over the past day, the World Health Organisation said in its daily situation report on Tuesday.

Over the past 24 hours, 3,847 people died from COVID-19 worldwide, taking the cumulative death toll to 469,587 fatalities, according to the report.

The global case total has now reached 8,993,659.

The Americas still account for the majority of cases and deaths — 4.4 million and 224,207, respectively. The United States remains the country with the highest count of cases and fatalities — 2.3 million and 119,761, respectively.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow has registered 14 deaths of patients infected with COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, the lowest number since 17 April, the city's coronavirus response centre said in a statement on Tuesday.

This brought the Russian capital's total coronavirus death toll to 3,657.

In the previous day, 26 people infected with the coronavirus died in Moscow.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A coronavirus-related lockdown was reimposed in the Warendorf district of the North Rhiene-Westphalia state of Germany after a hotbed of COVID-19 was discovered in the neighbouring district, Germany media reported on Tuesday, citing NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann.

Earlier in the day, the NRW district of Gutersloh was closed down after more than 1,500 employees of a local meat processing factory were diagnosed with COVID-19. All 7,000 employees were quarantined, and the factory itself stopped working.

Both quarantined districts will now ban mass cultural gatherings and sport activities in roofed spaces and, beginning on Thursday, shut down schools and kindergartens. More than half a million of people will be affected by the lockdown as some 365,000 people live in Gutersloh and roughly 280,000 others in Warendorf.

NRW has consistently been one of Germany's most affected regions since the epidemic's outbreak. For the past days, the infection develops through scattered hotbeds, with a 2.76 reproduction rate, according to Robert Koch University.

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Sputnik) - The surge in new coronavirus cases in the United States is concerning, but no public health expert has been asked to slow down testing for the virus despite President Donald Trump’s remarks to the contrary, White House Coronavirus Task Force Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday.

"We were going down from 30,000 cases a day to 25,000 and 20,000 … and now we are going up with 30,000 new infections, and that’s very troublesome to me," Fauci told a congressional hearing. "[T]o my knowledge, none of us had ever been told to slow down on testing."

On Saturday, Trump encouraged during a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, novel coronavirus response workers to slow down testing. Senior members of the Trump administration later commented that the US president made the comment in jest. But Trump doubled down in remarks earlier on Tuesday, telling a reporter he was not joking.

Fauci assured the hearing that public health experts were doing the opposite, saying the health authorities "re going to be doing more testing, not less."

In his opening remarks to the hearing, Fauci and a panel of health experts testified that the United States had performed nearly 22 million tests as of June 10th, with a prevailing rate of between 400,000 and 500,000 tests per day.

"This number will continue to increase," the joint testimony said.

MADRID (Sputnik) - Over 20 percent of tourist destinations worldwide have started relaxing coronavirus travel restrictions, while another 65 percent are still keeping their borders completely shut, the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said on Tuesday.

"According to UNWTO, as of 15 June, 22% of all destinations (48 destinations) have now eased restrictions on travel, up from just 3% (7 destinations) on 18 May," the specialized UN agency said.

Among those destinations that have started reopening borders are 37 in Europe; six in the Americas, including five island nations; three in Asia and the Pacific, including two small island states; and two in Africa.

"In Africa, the proportion of destinations where borders remain closed to tourists stands now at 85%. In the Americas, 76% of destinations maintain full border closures, as do 67% of destinations in Asia and the Pacific and 92% of destinations in the Middle East. In Europe, these full border closures are reduced now to 26% of all destinations," the Madrid-based UN agency specified.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili noted that "the restart of tourism is of vital importance – for livelihoods, for businesses and for national economies." The latest review, he went on, shows that more and more countries across the world are taking "responsible and measured" steps to loosen restrictions.

The coronavirus crisis, however, is not over, and the agency will continue to work with member nations to mitigate its effects on the tourism sector and ensure that tourism, "when the time is right," will "help drive a responsible and sustainable recovery," according to the UNWTO chief.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of cases of the coronavirus the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has surpassed 6,000, the office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the country said on Tuesday.

According to the WHO, the African country has recorded 102 new infections over the past 24 hours, which brings the total toll of those infected to 6,027. This includes 6,026 are confirmed cases and one suspected case.

Since the outbreak, the death toll has reached 135, including one fatality that is suspected to be caused by COVID-19. Meanwhile, 861 patients have fully recovered.

CAIRO (Sputnik) - Egypt will reopen restaurants, cafes and movie theatres, as well as mosques and churches beginning on Saturday, albeit with strict restrictions on the number of attendees to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mostafa Kemal Madbouly said on Tuesday.

"Starting June 27, cafes, restaurants and sports clubs will resume their work. In cafes and restaurants, a maximum of 25 percent of the usual number of visitors will be allowed in: if a cafe is designed to house 100 customers, only 25 people can be there at once," Madbouly said.

If the situation improves further, cafes and restaurants will get a go-ahead to increase the number of visitors, according to the prime minister.

The ban on smoking hookah in these facilities, Madbouly went on, will remain in place, as this is "one of the factors of transmission of the disease."

Theatres and movie houses will similarly have to limit the number of attendees to 25 percent of their capacity.

In addition, mosques and Christian churches will welcome back the faithful, but mass Friday prayers and Sunday religious services are still banned.

Parks and beaches, except those located on the territory of hotels, will keep shut too.

As of Monday, Egypt has confirmed over 56,800 COVID-19 cases, including more than 15,000 recoveries and 2,278 deaths.

The Youm7 newspaper reported, citing sources, that the government will scrap the curfew, which has been in place due to coronavirus since March, on Saturday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - There is no certainty over how long the novel coronavirus pandemic could last and there could be a burden on US health care systems if infections flare up together with the seasonal flu, experts from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Tuesday.

"While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will last, COVID-19 activity will likely continue for some time,” the experts, led by White House Coronavirus Task Force member Anthony Fauci, said in prepared remarks ahead of testimony to Congress. “If there is COVID-19 and flu activity at the same time, this could place a tremendous burden on the healthcare system related to bed occupancy, laboratory testing needs, personal protective equipment and healthcare worker safety.”

The experts noted that there was neither a vaccine nor a treatment approved by the Federal Drug Administration for the COVID-19 disease and urged Americans to get immunized against the flu instead.

“In the context of likely ongoing COVID-19 activity, getting a flu vaccine is more important now than ever,” the experts said.

More than 2.4 million Americans have been infected by the novel coronavirus and the reported death toll has exceeded 122,000.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that from October 1, 2019 through April 4 there were between 39 million and 56 million seasonal flu cases resulting in some 24,000 to 62,000 deaths.

BRUSSELS, June 23 (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related deaths in Belgium has nearly halved in the past week compared to the week before, according to the Health Ministry figures published Tuesday.

The authorities said that due to the significant improvement of the coronavirus situation, beginning on Tuesday, official statistics will include percentage points rather than numbers to show the dynamics over the preceding seven days.

The data provided by the ministry's coronavirus task force showed that deaths were down 46 percentage points from June 16-22, while the number of patients in intensive care units dropped by 45 points.

The number of those infected went down by 17 points and the number of hospitalizations by 11 points.

The country has recorded 60,810 cases since mid-March, after carrying out more than a million tests.

MOSCOW, June 23 (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United Arab Emirates has increased by 380 to 45,683, a slight increase compared to the previous day, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, citing the Health Ministry, as the country is relaxing its travelling rules.

On Monday, the daily increase was 378 cases.

Meanwhile, the death toll is at 305, and the tally of recoveries has reached 33,703.

As of Tuesday, UAE residents and citizens will be allowed to travel to the countries designated as low-risk by the authorities.

MOSCOW, June 23 (Sputnik) - Saudi Arabia will enforce special guidelines for those performing the Hajj pilgrimage this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Al Arabiya website reported on Tuesday, citing the country's health minister, Tawfiq Rabiah.

According to the news outlet, the guidelines will include a limit of 10,000 people allowed to perform Hajj at a single time, a ban on those 65 and older to perform the pilgrimage in 2020, mandatory testing and social distancing.

Saudi Arabia, which hosts Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, has confirmed a total of 164,144 COVID-19 cases, with a death toll of 1,346.

A district in western Germany has been put into lockdown until the end of June after a massive coronavirus outbreak was reported at a local meat processing plant, the state governor said Tuesday.

North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President Armin Laschet said at a news conference that 1,553 workers had tested positive at a slaughterhouse that belongs to the company Toennies.

"We will introduce lockdown for the entire district of Guetersloh. The goal is to calm down the situation and step up testing to determine whether the virus has spread outside Toennies and into the population," he said.

Laschet said the number of coronavirus patients was higher but did not provide the final figure. He said family members of some workers had been infected as well as 24 people with no connection to the plant.

Additionally, 7,000 plant workers had been put in "pre-test quarantine" without having tested positive for the virus as a precaution.

The authorities are bringing back restrictions on social life, including a ban on contacts with people from other households. Concert halls, bars, movie theaters, museums, art galleries, castles, gyms and fitness studios, saunas and swimming pools have been closed and outdoor picnics and barbecues prohibited.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that England could start gradually easing the COVID-19 lockdown thanks to a significant prevalence drop, adding that the 2-meter social distancing rule would be changed starting 4 July.

"Our cautious relaxation of the guidance is entirely conditional of our continued defeat of the virus. In the first half of May, nearly 69,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 across the UK. By the first half of June, that token has fallen by 70 percent to just under 22,000 ... This pandemic has inflicted permanent scars and we mourn everyone we have lost ... While we remain vigilant, we do not believe there is currently a risk of a second peak of infections that might overwhelm the NHS ... Thanks to our progress, we can now go further and safely ease the lockdown in England," Johnson told the UK parliament.

Each step will be conditional and reversible, the prime minister stressed.

"Given the significant fall in the prevalence of the virus, we can change the 2-meter social distancing rule from July 4, ... Where it is possible to keep 2 meters apart, people should. But where it is not, we would advise people to keep a social distance of 1 meter plus," Johnson added.

An increase in the number of new cases of the coronavirus infection in Iran indicates that a second wave of the pandemic has begun in the country, President of the Robert Koch Institute Lothar Wieler said on Tuesday.

Since 14 June, Iran has been registering more than 100 deaths from the coronavirus per day in what many have dubbed the second wave of the virus. The surge took place after daily cases started to climb again in early June following religious events and the opening of mosques and restaurants.

"According to our assessment, a second wave is taking place in Iran. The number of cases has decreased significantly there, and an increase in their number [now] speaks in favor of a second wave. In South Korea, we assume that this is an increase in the number of cases, but whether this is a second wave, we cannot say so far, we do not think so," Wieler said at a press conference.

The president also said that, according to the World Health Organization, there was rather “peak, not the beginning of a second wave” in South Korea.

In South Korea, since early May, new local clusters of COVID-19 and an increase in the number of imported cases cause periodic surges in the daily increment of those infected. In general, the daily number of new cases ranges from 30 to 60 people. On Tuesday, South Korea registered 46 new cases of COVID-19 with the total number of infections rose to 12,484. Meanwhile, 10,908 patients have recovered, 281 others died.

Approximately 30 percent of recovered COVID-19 patients risk suffering long-term lung damage, as well as other negative consequences, the Telegraph newspaper has reported, citing the UK National Health Service guidelines.

According to the guidelines seen by the news outlet, scarred lung tissue is a likely outcome, provided COVID-19 follows patterns of similar diseases.

Other likely side effects may include fatigue, increased risk of Alzheimer's disease, psychological disturbances, and brain impairment.

The United Kingdom has confirmed a total of 305,289 cases, with the death toll of 42,647.

An Ayurveda company, Patanjali by Yoga Guru Ramdev, has revealed that they have found a successful treatment for coronavirus.

In the clinical trials of Coronil and Swasari Vati, Ramdev said, We've prepared the first Ayurvedic-clinically controlled, research, evidence and trial-based medicine for COVID-19. We conducted a clinical case study and clinical controlled trial, and found 69% of patients recovered in 3 days and 100% of patients recovered in 7 days."

“We conducted two trials of these, first a clinical controlled study, which took place in Delhi and Ahmedabad, among many other cities. It included 280 patients; all of them recovered. We were able to control coronavirus and its complications in this. Afterwards, the all-important clinical control trial was conducted,” he said.

Russia has registered 7,425 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours (7,600 yesterday), bringing the total count to 599,705, the country's coronavirus response center said on Tuesday.

"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 7,425 COVID-19 cases in 84 regions, of which 2,427 (32.7 percent) have been detected actively, with people showing no clinical symptoms," the response center said in a statement, adding that the country has confirmed 599,705 cases (+1.3 percent) in 85 regions so far.

Of all the new cases, 1,081 have been registered in Moscow, 504 in the Moscow Region and 319 in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area (compared to yesterday's 1,068, 506 and 295, respectively).

The country's COVID-19 death toll has grown by 153 (95 yesterday) to 8,359.

As many as 12,013 COVID-19 patients have recovered across the country (4,705 yesterday), bringing the total number of cured people to 356,429.

Over 17.5 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the outbreak, and 312,000 people across the country remain under medical monitoring as suspected virus carriers, public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Germany, which have been recorded since the beginning of the outbreak, has reached 190,862 after a daily increase of 503, the Robert Koch Institute said on Tuesday.

The death toll in the country has reached 8,895, with 10 new fatalities recorded over the past 24 hours, the institute said. On Monday, three new fatalities were reported.  The total number of cured COVID-19 patients has topped 175,700.

Bavaria accounts for the bulk of Germany's COVID-19 cases (47,894), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (41,418) and Baden-Wurttemberg (35,365). The German capital of Berlin has recorded 7,916 cases since the beginning of the outbreak.

The Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade has signed off the first deliveries of Russia-made antiseptics abroad, with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Persian Gulf nations set to receive aerosol disinfectants.

"On 15 June, a contract was signed on deliveries of disinfectants in aerosol package to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and the Persian Gulf states," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the disinfectants are produced by the Arnest Group, a major manufacturer of perfume, cosmetic and household products.

Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said in early May that the Russian market was already saturated with medical products, individual protective gear and disinfectants, needed for COVID-19 response, and it was, therefore, possible to start exporting such products.

Cinemas, museums and galleries in England are to be allowed to re-open starting from 4 July.