World News in Brief: June 25

India reported 16,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday (June 24), its highest daily increase since the outbreak began, and the government called in the army to manage new treatment centres with thousands of additional hospital beds in New Delhi.

 A railway police official makes an announcement on a loudspeaker telling commuters to stand inside the designated circles to maintain social distancing as they wait to board a train at a railway station after some restrictions were lifted during a lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mumbai, India, June 22, 2020. (Photo: Reuters)
A railway police official makes an announcement on a loudspeaker telling commuters to stand inside the designated circles to maintain social distancing as they wait to board a train at a railway station after some restrictions were lifted during a lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mumbai, India, June 22, 2020. (Photo: Reuters)

* Nearly half of all COVID-19 cases globally can be found in the Americas and the numbers continue to climb, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas, Carissa Etienne, said on Wednesday. As of June 23, there have been more than 4.5 million COVID-19 cases and 226,000 deaths reported in the Americas, she said in a virtual briefing from Washington. In Latin America and the Caribbean alone, cases have tripled from 690,000 one month ago to 2 million.

* The number of novel coronavirus cases in the six Gulf Arab states has doubled in a month to over 400,000, as the region's two biggest economies this week fully lifted curfews imposed to combat the infection. As of Wednesday evening, the tally in the energy producing region stood at 403,163 infections, with 2,346 deaths, according to a Reuters tally. It passed the 200,000 mark on May 27.

* The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday reported 2,336,615 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 34,313 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 784 to 121,117.

* Brazil recorded 42,725 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours as well as 1,185 new deaths resulting from the disease, the country's Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Brazil has registered nearly 1.2 million cases since the pandemic began, while cumulative deaths total 53,830, according to the ministry.

* Mexico's health ministry on Wednesday reported 947 new deaths from the coronavirus and 5,437 new cases. The figures bring Mexico's totals to 196,847 cases and 24,324 deaths.

* Russia on Thursday (June 25) confirmed 7,113 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its tally to 613,994. Officials said 92 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 8,605.

* The number of people who died from coronavirus infection in France rose by 11 to 29,731 on Wednesday, down sharply versus Tuesday when the weekly data for nursing homes were included. That is the lowest increase in COVID-19 fatalities in five days. France's death toll is the fifth-highest in the world.

* Indonesia reported 1,178 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking its total number of cases to 50,187. Health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said there were 47 more deaths recorded, with total fatalities now at 2,620, the highest COVID-19 death toll in East Asia outside of China.

* Thailand on Thursday reported one new coronavirus case detected in a Thai national returning from abroad, taking the country to 31 days without a local transmission. The coronavirus has killed 58 people in Thailand since it was first detected in January, among 3,158 infections, of which 3,038 patients have recovered. Thailand will reopen schools and plans to allow some foreigners into the country from next week.

* Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he has confidence the country could move ahead with easing restrictions as it can respond and deal with new coronavirus outbreaks. Australia reported its first COVID-19 death in more than a month on Wednesday, as concerns about a second wave of infections saw thousands of people queue, sometimes for hours, to be tested for the virus.

* The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 630 to 192,079, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 13 to 8,927, the tally showed.

* Panama on Wednesday tapped a new health minister to replace Rosario Turner, the public face of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, whose spread has been accelerating in the country in recent weeks. Panama has registered a total of 28,030 cases of coronavirus and 547 deaths so far.

* US President Donald Trump said on June 24 he looked forward to signing a defense cooperation agreement with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the coronavirus pandemic led to a global shutdown. Duda welcomed the new agreement as very important to European security and to Poland's security in particular. He said there was a possibility more US troops would be sent to Poland than agreed on previously.

* British police said on Thursday 15 officers were injured when disorder broke out following an unauthorised music event in the Brixton area of south London overnight. London police said they had been called to the street event but the crowd refused to engage with officers.

* Iran and Venezuela will not back down from countering American sanctions, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi wrote in a tweet. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Wednesday the sanctioning of five Iranian captains who delivered gasoline and its components to Venezuela.

* The Eiffel Tower on Thursday welcomed back visitors after the coronavirus outbreak forced the Paris landmark into its longest period out of action since World War Two. Strict hygiene and safety measures have been put in place for the re-opening.

* Kyrgyzstan's government will decide on Thursday whether to declare a state of emergency in two major cities and two provinces over the resurgent coronavirus outbreak, the Central Asian nation's healthcare ministry said. Under the previous state of emergency which ended in May, the former Soviet republic locked down several cities and districts including capital Bishkek and imposed a curfew there.

* The United Arab Emirates' government has lifted its coronavirus-related curfew, it posted on Twitter on Wednesday. "All members of society are allowed to freely enter and exit throughout the day without restrictions," it said in an announcement also tweeted by the country's National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.

* A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck near Milford Sound in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island on Thursday, government seismic monitor Geonet said. Thousands of people in the area reported on Geonet to have felt the earthquake, which was very shallow at a depth of 5 kilometres (3 miles), but there were no immediate reports of damages.

Reuters