World News in Brief: December 20

Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated the Patimban sea port in West Java on Sunday, saying the new gateway would have a "strategic" role in boosting the nation's pandemic-hit economy.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 22,771 to 1,494,009, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 22,771 to 1,494,009, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.

* More than 75.06 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,679,707 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

* Mainland China recorded 23 new COVID-19 cases on Dec. 19, up from 17 a day earlier, the country's health authority said on Sunday. The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 22 of the new cases were imported. A single local transmission was in the northeastern province of Liaoning.

* US President-elect Joe Biden and Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday committed to work on a humane strategy to regional migration by addressing its root causes in Central America and southern Mexico.

* Brazil on Saturday registered 50,177 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the new total to 7,213,155. Deaths rose by 706 to 186,356.

* Russia reported 28,948 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including 7,263 in Moscow, taking the national toll to 2,848,377. Authorities also reported 511 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 50,858 since the pandemic began.

* Mexico's health ministry on Saturday reported 12,129 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 627 more fatalities, bringing the country's totals to 1,313,675 cases and 117,876 deaths. The government says the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

* Thailand confirmed 576 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, including 516 migrant worker cases announced the day before, according to a health ministry statement.

* Sydney was isolated from the rest of Australia on Sunday after all of the country's states and territories imposed travel restrictions on its residents as a coronavirus cluster in the city grew to around 70. The states of Victoria and Queensland, and the Northern Territory, banned people arriving from Sydney as of Monday.

* Senate Democrats and Republicans have reached an agreement clearing way for virus relief votes, the Wall Street Journal reported late on Saturday. A vote on the US$900 billion package is expected on Sunday, the report said.

* Netherlands will ban flights carrying passengers from the United Kingdom from Sunday as Britain detected a new coronavirus strain. A travel ban will remain in place until Jan. 1, the government said in a statement early Sunday, adding that it is monitoring developments and is considering additional measures regarding other modes of transport.

* A car bombing in Kabul targeting an Afghan lawmaker killed at least nine people, officials said. Lawmaker Khan Mohammad Wardak survived the blast but is among 20 injured including women and children, Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi said. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Reuters