Global Coronavirus Cases Passes 12 Million Markhttps://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/coronavirus-live-updates.htmlCoronavirus cases worldwide have exceeded 12 million, according to a Reuters tally, as evidence mounts of the airborne spread of the disease.
The number of cases is triple that of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to the World Health Organization.
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Brazil's President Bolsonaro vetoes COVID-19 aid for Indigenoushttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/brazil-president-bolsonaro-vetoes-covid-19-aid-indigenous-200708190234748.htmlBrazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has vetoed provisions of a law that obligated the federal government to provide drinking water, disinfectants and a guarantee of hospital beds to Indigenous communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president's office on Wednesday said those provisions in the law, approved by Congress, were "against the public interest" and "unconstitutional", by creating expenses for the federal government without new sources of revenue to cover them.
The right-wing populist has sought to assimilate indigenous peoples by calling for commercial farming and mining to be introduced on their reserves, saying it will raise them out of poverty.
“The vetoes deny the minimum necessary for the survival of these communities,” Brazilian indigenous advocacy group Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) said in a statement.
“The vetoes reveal that the president’s plan is not to have a plan,” it said.
Brazil's Indigenous population of roughly 850,000 is more vulnerable to COVID-19, as they live in remote areas with little access to healthcare systems and because their communal lifestyle rules out social distancing.
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Brazil Journalists Quarantined After Interviewing Infected Bolsonarohttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/victoria-coronavirus-cases-surge-lockdown-looms-live-updates-200708003621037.htmlBrazilian broadcasters have pulled journalists off the job after they were exposed to President Jair Bolsonaro in an interview where he announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus, quarantining them until they test negative for the disease.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro told a handful of television journalists at his official residence that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Several held microphones in front of his chest, without the minimum 1-2 meters (3-6 feet) of distance advocated by medical experts to avoid contagion.
Bolsonaro deliberately exposed the journalists by removing his mask during the interview.
In separate emailed statements, CNN Brasil, Record TV and the state-run Brazil Communications Company (EBC) said they had taken their reporters off the job following the interview.
Record and EBC said their journalists would return to work only if they tested negative for the virus in coming days. CNN Brasil did not give details on the protocol for its journalists.
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Schadenfreude In Brazil as Jair Bolsonaro Gets Coronavirushttps://m.dw.com/en/schadenfreude-in-brazil-as-jair-bolsonaro-gets-coronavirus/a-54097353On Tuesday, several passersby on the streets of Rio de Janeiro said Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro had it coming when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 this week. "My name's Messiah, but I can't work miracles," the president said in late April, when a total of 5,000 coronavirus deaths had been recorded in Brazil — a reference to his middle name, Messias. His remarks were a slap in the face for people who had lost loved ones or were struggling with COVID-19 themselves. Now that Bolsonaro has contracted the virus, many Brazilians feel a sense of schadenfreude.
"He's paying the price for saying the things he said," a man who identified himself as retired told DW. "It's his turn now," he said.
A nurse who overheard the conversation said: "I hope he dies." She added that she hopes that Bolsonaro will suffer as other Brazilians have during the pandemic. The population has largely been left without ventilators and drugs. "His death would be fair," she said. "Nobody on this planet would miss him — goodbye Bolsonaro!"
... "To see my country under control of such a psychopath really worries me," he said. Marina and Tatiana, who were accompanying Rafael, agreed. They said they hoped that Bolsonaro would experience firsthand what it means to contract this "little flu."
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Renewed protests have broken out in Serbia, a day after demonstrators briefly breached the parliament building in Belgrade.
https://m.dw.com/en/violence-breaks-out-at-new-serbia-protests/a-54098931Thousands rallied in the capital once more, with reports of tear gas and scuffles in Belgrade and Serbia's second city, Novi Sad. There, fire was reported at the city hall.
AP reported that several clashes involved some extremist rioters who are linked to far-right groups.
The protests were triggered by a decision to reimpose quarantine measures in the country, although much of the dissatisfaction in fact rests with the government's decision to lift almost all restrictions last month. This enabled the country to hold elections on June 21, which strongman Prime Minister Aleksander Vucic won comfortably.
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Coronavirus Cases in the US Hit Three Millionhttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/victoria-coronavirus-cases-surge-lockdown-looms-live-updates-200708003621037.htmlThe United States passed another grim coronavirus milestone with three million confirmed cases, as President Donald Trump downplayed the risks posed by the pandemic and aggressively pushed for schools to reopen.
The US set a new record for cases within a 24-hour period after it recorded 60,209 new cases, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.The coronavirus is surging in several southern states including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona, while it has almost entirely receded from its former epicenter in New York and the north-east.
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Trump’s Campaign Rally Contributed to Surge of Cases in Tulsa, Doctor Claimshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jul/08/coronavirus-live-news-us-to-leave-who-as-organisation-warns-crisis-acceleratingPresident Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa that drew thousands of people in June, along with large protests that accompanied it, “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said.
Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday.
Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike.
“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said.
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‘We should do better’ — Phoenix mayor calls for federal government to increase testing as hospitals reach capacityhttps://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/coronavirus-live-updates.htmlPhoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said Phoenix is the largest city in the U.S. where the federal government hasn’t opened up a large testing site yet. The mayor said the city is struggling to keep up with demand even as it limits testing to the sickest patients and health-care workers.
“This weekend I went to a testing site where people had waited over eight hours,” Gallego told MSNBC. “I saw a man who was sweating and struggling to breathe, try to refill his gas tank because he’d run out of fuel on our city street. If anyone looks at that and doesn’t want to do better for him, then I just don’t understand it.“
Gallego said she asked for increased testing months ago, but the federal government told her Phoenix did not have enough cases to justify opening a mass testing site at the time. Today, Maricopa County where Phoenix is located has more than 70,000 positive cases total, the overwhelming majority of the more than 108,000 cases reported in Arizona. At least 1,963 people in Arizona have died from the virus. Gallego said Phoenix has already run out of hospital beds and nurses and doctors are exhausted.
“They would like more resources,” she said. “They didn’t go into medicine to decide who lives and who dies. This is the United States of America, we should do better.”
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Trump Criticizes Fauci and Says US In a 'Good Place' as Covid-19 Cases Top 3 Millionhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/08/trump-fauci-coronavirus-experts-covid-19As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the US reached 3m, and another daily record fell with more than 60,000 new cases, Donald Trump insisted the US was “in a good place” and admitted he “didn’t listen to my experts”.
The president also publicly attacked the US’s most senior non-political member of the White House coronavirus task force, Dr Anthony Fauci, who said earlier this week the US was still “knee deep in the first wave” of the pandemic.
Speaking to former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren for a Gray TV interview to be broadcast on Sunday, Trump said: “I disagree with him. You know, Dr Fauci said ‘don’t wear masks’ and now he says ‘wear them’. And you know, he’s said numerous things: ‘Don’t close off China. Don’t ban China.’
“And I did it anyway. I sort of didn’t listen to my experts and I banned China.”
(TRump failed to mention that the virus was already circulating in the US two months before the ban)
Nonetheless, Trump insisted to Van Susteren that in the next two to four weeks, “I think we’re going to be in very good shape.” He has previously erroneously contended that the virus will soon simply disappear and that 99% of cases are harmless.
Fauci has now reportedly been blocked from appearing on major media platforms. He made his “first wave” remark on a National Institutes of Health webcast on Monday, following sobering testimony to the Senate last week.
On Wednesday, the White House taskforce met at the Department of Education in Washington. Fauci told CBS he participated remotely. He was not present for a press briefing.
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29 Mississippi Legislators Test Positive for Coronavirushttps://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jul/09/coronavirus-live-news-us-cases-rise-by-world-record-60000-as-melbourne-locks-downAt least 26 legislators and 10 others who work at Mississippi’s Capitol have tested positive for the coronavirus, a public health official said Wednesday, as the governor implored residents to take precautions amid a rapid rise in confirmed cases statewide, AP reports.
The 174-member Legislature ended its annual session 1 July, and many people in the Capitol did not wear masks or maintain distance between themselves and others during the last few weeks. Lieutenant-governor Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Philip Gunn are among those who publicly acknowledge testing positive for Covid-19. They are now quarantined at home.
The number of people infected at the Capitol could actually be higher. The reported number only reflects those who were tested recently in Jackson, said the state’s top public health official, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. Some legislators have also been tested since returning to their hometowns.
Republican Governor Tate Reeves who has tested negative said he will not issue a statewide order for people to wear masks, as some other governors have done. But, he hinted that he could restore some restrictions on bars or other places if people don’t stop congregating in large groups.
Reeves said some hospitals are at or near capacity for intensive care beds. The state is limiting elective surgeries in a few counties to keep hospital beds open for Covid-19 patients.
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