COVID-19 Global Update: Brazil’s Frightening Cases Near 1m Mark

• Germany imposes 4months ban on large events
• WHO hails trial drug
• Virus still alive in US

Brazil recorded 1,269 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, bringing its official death toll from the novel virus to 46,510, the second highest in the world outside the United States.

The Health Ministry also registered 32,188 new cases of the virus since its Tuesday update, for a total of 955,377 confirmed cases, also only second to the United States globally.

However, pressure continues to mount on far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has resisted strong measures to stop spread of what he calls a ‘little flu’, with devastating consequences.

This is as the global death toll from coronavirus approaches 450,000, with more than 8.2 million confirmed cases of the infection worldwide.

The Johns Hopkins University tracker is recording more than 445,000 deaths from COVID-19 across the world, as of Wednesday evening United Kingdom time.

It said that one in four fatalities are in the US, making it by far the worst-hit country in the world today.

WHO Cautions, Hails Steroid Treatment ‘Hope’

The World Health Organization (WHO) is upbeat about the efficacy of the cheap steriod, dexamethasone, which British researchers believe can help save lives but cautions that it should be used only for the most serious cases.

In welcoming the UK’s successful trial of dexamethasone, the low-cost anti-inflammatory drug found to save lives when used on coronavirus patients, WHO chief, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed happiness that research was at last providing “green shoots of hope”.

Trial results announced on Tuesday showed dexamethasone, a generic drug used since the 1960s to reduce inflammation in diseases such as arthritis, cut death rates by around a third among the most severely ill patients admitted to hospital.

But Head of the WHO’s emergencies programme, Dr Mike Ryan, said the drug should only be used in cases where it has been shown to help.

“It is exceptionally important in this case, that the drug is reserved for use in severely ill and critical patients who can benefit from this drug clearly”, he said

The global body said it marked a “lifesaving breakthrough” in the fight against the virus and ordered its own analysis on the drug.

However, some scientists, including South Korea’s top public health official, expressed caution on the drug’s usage

Coronavirus Still Alive – American Expert

America’s top public health expert has warned the nation it is “still in the first wave” of coronavirus infections and deaths.

The warning comes on the heels of six states reporting record numbers of new cases amid continued rapid easing of lockdown restrictions.

However, the state of New York recorded 17 coronavirus deaths on 16 June, its lowest daily death toll since the start of the outbreak.

Just 10 weeks ago, 800 New Yorkers died in a single day, so the health authorities have confirmed the sharp decline as extraordinary.

Germany Bans Large Events

Germany has agreed to ban large events for another four months to guard against a second spike in cases.

Chancellor Angela Merkel held a meeting of all 16 state premiers where they agreed to extend the ban on big events until at least the end of October.

Fears Heighten In Beijing Over Virus Spike

Millions of people in Beijing, the Chinese capital, are living under renewed restrictions and fear as a spike in coronavirus cases continues.

The city reported another 31 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 137 in the past week.

Before the recent spike, the Chinese capital city had gone 57 days without a locally-transmitted case.

WHO Halts Trial Drug

The World Health Organization (WHO) has halted trials of hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug championed by Donald Trump for treating coronavirus.

According to the global health body, it had stopped testing hydroxychloroquine as part of its multi-country trial because it had showed no benefit.

It comes two days after US regulators revoked the emergency authorisation for its use, amid growing evidence it doesn’t work and could cause serious side-effects. – The Guardian with agency reports