More than 36.93 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,067,766 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Meanwhile, new cases of COVID-19 in the United States hit a two-month high on Friday with over 58,000 infections reported and hospitalizations in the Midwest at record levels for a fifth day in a row, according to a Reuters analysis.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
AMERICAS
* President Donald Trump planned on Saturday to hold his first public event since being diagnosed with COVID-19 more than a week ago, aiming to show he has beaten the virus and is ready to resume campaigning, although questions remain about his health.
* Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he was released from a hospital on Saturday where he had spent the past week being treated for COVID-19.
EUROPE
* Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez appealed for unity on Saturday after the far-right Vox party said it would take legal action against a partial lockdown imposed on Madrid to contain one of Europe’s worst outbreaks.
* Poland announced new measures to curb the pandemic after reporting record infections for a fifth straight day, but it stopped short of introducing mandatory distance learning for schools.
* Russia, Portugal and the Netherlands reported record daily case increases.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Myanmar’s health ministry reported 2,158 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday in a record daily rise, along with 32 new deaths.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Mask wearing has become mandatory in public in the Iranian capital and violators will be fined, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Saturday as the country battles a third wave of coronavirus infections.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* The U.S. government expects to be able to provide at no cost more than 1 million doses of antibody treatments for COVID-19 similar to the one President Donald Trump received to treat his illness, according to a top U.S. health official on Friday.
* Health Canada will start a real-time review of Germany’s BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the companies said on Friday.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Leaders of major cities in northern England asked for more generous economic support for workers and businesses facing local lockdown, saying the government’s current proposals would wreak economic hardship on their citizens.
* Italy’s business lobby Confindustria said it saw just a “partial” rebound for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 after an expected 10% contraction this year, as the coronavirus epidemic still loomed.
