Moscow, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Russia has reported a record 11,656 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 221,344, the country's coronavirus response centre said ont Monday.

The more than 10,000 single-day increase has now entered the ninth day, Xinhua news agency.

The death toll grew by 94 to 2,009, while 39,801 people have recovered, including a record of 5,495 over the last 24 hours, the statement said.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, confirmed 6,169 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 115,909.

Russia's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog said on Monday that 247,842 people were under medical observation as of Sunday.

More than 5.6 million lab tests for COVID-19 have been conducted across the country so far, it added.

Source: IANS

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New York, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Workers at care homes across the US state of New Yorke must be tested for coronavirus twice a week under new rules laid out by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, it was reported.

The Governor announced new rules for care homes on Sunday, the BBC reported.

"This virus uses nursing homes. They are ground zero. They are the vulnerable population in the vulnerable location," he said.

Besides monitoring care home staff, hospitals can no longer discharge patients back to care homes unless they have tested negative, he said.

Any of the more than 600 care facilities in New York that fail to comply would lose their licences, Cuomo added.

The announcement comes as New York moves to reopen parts of the state beginning on May 15.

To qualify, a region must have at least 14 days of declines in reported infections and be able to run 30 tests for every 1,000 residents.

The Governor also reported that the state is investigating 85 cases involving children suffering from an inflammatory illness suspected of being linked to COVID-19, reports the BBC.

New York has been the epicentre of the US coronavirus outbreak, with 26,670 deaths and 335,395 cases as of Sunday.

The US has reported a total of 1,329,791 COVID-19 cases and 79,528 deaths.

Source: IANS

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Wuhan, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) An official has been sacked in Wuhan, capital of China's Hubei province where the coronavirus pandemic originated last December, after the city reported six new confirmed COVID-19 cases, authorities said on Monday.

Zhang Yuxin was removed from his post for poor management over the closing-off and control of the Sanmin residential community, where he served as secretary, reports Xinhua news agency.

Wuhan reported a total of six new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday and Sunday.

All the patients are from the Sanmin residential community.

The community had previously reported 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

As of Monday, China had a total of 84,010 COVID-19 cases, with 4,637 deaths.

Source: IANS

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Seoul, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) The number of new coronavirus infections linked to bars and clubs in Seoul's popular nightlife district of Itaewon surged to 86 on Monday, South Korean health authorities said.

The number comprised 63 club-goers and 23 family members and friends who came in contact with the former, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said during a press briefing.

The new cluster infections underline the challenge of controlling infections after the country started easing social distancing rules and introducing a new daily life with COVID-19, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The government warned against a possible rapid growth of cluster infections since the first confirmed case on May 6, and urged visitors to the affected establishments to get tested.

"We request active cooperation from visitors to the Itaewon clubs from April 24-May 6. Please refrain from contacting others and receive a test at near testing centers, regardless of symptoms," Yoon Tae-ho, a senior health ministry official said in a separate briefing on Monday.

The Seoul city government said it would provide free testing to club visitors, as it couldn't get hold of a vast majority of them.

"Among 5,517 people on the visitor's logs obtained by the city, we reached 2,405 but couldn't do so with 3,112," Yonhap News Agency quoted Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon as saying to the media on Monday.

"This means they intentionally avoided our calls or wrote a wrong number in the first place."

In order to encourage those who don't want to reveal their identities to come forward, the city will offer free, anonymous testing, he said.

The nation's total COVID-19 infections increased to 10,909, while the death toll stood at 256.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) The global death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic has surpassed the 280,000 mark, while the cases have surged to over 4.1 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Monday morning, the global death toll stood at 282,719, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) said in its latest update.

The US had the highest number of deaths in the world at 79,528, while the UK accounted for the highest in Europe with 31,930 fatalities.

The other countries with over 10,000 COVID-19 deaths were Italy (30,560), Spain (26,621), France (26,383) and Brazil (11,123), the CSSE data showed.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in the world has increased to 4,102,849.

The US still accounts for the highest number of cases in the world at 1,329,791.

The other nations with cases above the 100,000 marks are Spain (224,350), the UK (220,449), Italy (219,070), Russia (209,688), France (177,094), Germany (171,879), Brazil (162,699), Turkey (138,657) and Iran (107,603).

Source: IANS

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By Arul Louis

New York, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Covid-19 pandemic has crept into the White House, sidelining Anthony Fauci, the nation's leading voice on the pandemic, and posing a threat to US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

The reach of the virus into the home of the nation's leadership comes as some states have begun controversial loosening of the Covid-19 restrictions,some in defiance of the task force guidelines.

Fauci, the leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force who has been a reassuring figure on national TV, is on a modified quarantine since Saturday scheduled to mostly work remotely from home for 14 days after being exposed to a staffer infected by Covid-19.

Two other members of the task force, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, have also gone into self-quarantine after their exposures.

Trump and Pence have also been exposed to the virus but have so far not quarantined themselves - a difficult task as the leaders of the nation.

Trump's personal valet has tested positive for the disease as has Pence's Spokesperson Kate Miller.

Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi is next in the line of succession to the Presidency if both Trump and Pence become incapacitated.

Britain recently suffered through a trauma at the top after Prime Minister Boris Johnson came down with Covid-19 and was hospitalised in an intensive care unit. He nominated Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to stand in for him and has since recovered and returned to work.

Both Trump and Pence have minimised their risks and have not worn masks, but have increased the frequency of tests.

"Now we're going to go testing once a day," Trump said on Thursday after his valet's infection was revealed.

He added, "But even when you test once a day, somebody could -- something happens where they catch something."

The White House has been giving the newly-available rapid tests to those who come into contact with the President, including those who attend meetings he is present in.

The self-quarantine quarantine of three persons from the task force comes as the powerful panel that steered the nation through its response to the pandemic is under a cloud of uncertainity.

On Tuesday Trump said that it would be replaced by another committee more focused on re-opening the economy, but on Thursday, he said that it would continue indefinitely.

The daily briefings of the task force, which had been a fixture on national TV in the evenings presenting the measured scientific views of doctors Fauci and coordinator Deborah Birx along with the scattershot opinions on politics, medicine and the economy by Trump, has been discontinued in recent days.

Under Fauci's modified quarantine plan, he may attend office under strict isolation conditions, he has said.

He, along with Hahn and Redfield, is scheduled to testify before a Republican-controlled Senate committee this week, after Trump had blocked their appearance at a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives panel.

Fauci is expected to attend the Senate panel hearing on the COVID-19 response in person with precautions, while the other two are to testify remotely.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

Source: IANS

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New York, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) A mysterious illness believed to be linked to novel coronavirus has killed three children in New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

While addressing the media on Saturday, the Governor described the illness as a "new" syndrome that caused inflammation of blood vessels, leading to possible heart problems, the BBC reported.

Cuomo said health authorities were reviewing 73 similar cases of children across the state.

Many of the children did not display symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19 but later tested positive for the disease or the antibodies it produces.

The three deaths may indicate the virus poses a more severe risk to young people than previously thought, Cuomo added.

According to an advisory issued by the state's health department last week, the multi-system inflammatory syndrome has features that overlap with Kawasaki Disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome, including persistent fever, abdominal symptoms, rash and cardiovascular changes.

The department asked health providers to immediately report those cases in patients who are under 21 years old, and perform a diagnostic and serological test to detect the presence of novel coronavirus or corresponding antibodies in the patients.

Similar cases have been recently reported in Britain and other European countries.

Source: IANS

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London, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) The UK government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in British labs, it was reported on Sunday.

The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad were among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems", the BBC reported.

The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said in a report.

Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said expanding Britain's virus testing network had involved setting up an "entirely new" lab network to process tests, adding "contingencies" - such as sending swabs abroad - were in place for when "problems arise".

The revelation comes as the government failed to hit the 100,000 daily tests target set by Health Secretary Matt Hancock for the seventh day in a row.

There were 96,878 tests delivered in the 24 hours up to 9 a.m. on Friday, down from 97,029 the day before, said the BBC.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said his "ambition" was to hit 200,000 tests "by the end of this month - and then go even higher".

As of Sunday, the overall COVID-19 cases in the UK stood at 216,525, with 31,662 deaths, which is currently the highest number of fatalities in Europe.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) Three members of the White House coronavirus task force, including the country's infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, were self-isolating for two weeks after possible exposure to the deadly illness, a media report said on Sunday.

Along with Fauci, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Stephen Hahn were also self-isolating, the BBC report said.

Fauci's agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Saturday that he was at "relatively low risk" due to the degree of his exposure and also tested negative.

The 79-year-old will work from home for the time being and will be regularly tested, the institute added.

In a statement, the CDC said Redfield, 68, had no symptoms and was not feeling unwell, but would also be teleworking for two weeks after "low risk exposure" to someone at the White House.

It was unclear who this person is.

According to an FDA spokesperson, Hahn has also tested negavive for the virus.

The three men were due to address a Senate committee on Tuesday.

Before the news about Fauci was made public, committee chairman Senator Lamar Alexander said Redfield and Hahn would be allowed to testify by videolink, the BBC reported.

Sunday's development comes after Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller, the wife of President Donald Trump's aide Stephen Miller, tested positive for the virus on Friday.

The same day it was also reported that the President's daughter, Ivanka Trump's personal assistant had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The two cases were reported a day after Trump's personal military valet was also confirmed to have the illness.

The US currently accounts for the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

As of Sunday, there were 1,309,54 cases in the country, while the death toll stood at 78,794, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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Seoul, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Korea reported 34 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the biggest single day spike in a month, apparently due to the latest cluster infection blamed on clubs in Seoul's Itaewon district.

The new cases raised South Korea's total case tally to 10,874, and the nation's death toll remained unchanged at 256, Yonhap News Agency quoted the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) as saying.

The hike is the biggest single day jump since April 9 when South Korea reported 39 cases and sparked fears that the once-slowing outbreak could worsen out of control again.

The new spike came after a 29-year-old, whom health authorities consider to be the first case in the cluster infection, visited five clubs and bars in Itaewon from the night of May 1 to the early hours of the following morning.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed officials to find an estimated 1,510 people who visited clubs the district last week and test them for COVID-19.

Also Saturday, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon imposed an administrative order to effectively suspend business at clubs, bars and other nightlife establishments in the capital city.

The precautionary measure will remain in place until further notice.

Source: IANS

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Seoul, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Korea was on alert Saturday as more than a dozen people infected with the coronavirus from clubs in Seoul could spread the virus across the country amid eased social distancing.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 17 out of 18 new COVID-19 cases were linked to a person who visited clubs and bars in Seoul's popular multicultural neighbourhood of Itaewon last weekend, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The 29-year-old whom health authorities consider to be the first patient in the cluster infection, visited five clubs and bars in Itaewon from the night of May 1 to the early hours of the following morning.

On Saturday, Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip said the health authorities are in the process of identifying people who visited the clubs, and family members and acquaintances of those who have been infected with the virus from the clubs, to make sure the virus does not spread in local communities.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun instructed officials to find those who visited clubs in Itaewon last week and test them for the novel coronavirus.

Also Saturday, Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon imposed an administrative order to effectively suspend business at clubs, bars and other night-life establishments in the capital city, said the Yonhap News Agency report.

The precautionary measure will remain in place until further notice, without specifying a date.

On Saturday, South Korea reported 18 more cases, raising the country's total to 10,840.

The nation's death toll remained unchanged at 256, according to the KCDC.

Source: IANS

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Moscow, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The overall number of coronavirus cases in Russia increased to 198,676 on Saturday after the emergence of 10,817 new infections in the last 24 hour, health authorities said.

According to the country's anti-coronavirus crisis centre, the death toll currently stood at 1,827, while 31,916 people have recovered from the illness sa far, reports TASS news agency.

According to the data, the daily growth in coronavirus cases amounted to 5.8 per cent, the lowest figure since the start of the pandemic.

A total of 4,399 new cases were identified as asymptomatic, the centre added.

Source: IANS

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London, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) A six-week-old baby has died of coronavirus in England, becoming the UK's youngest COVID-19 victim, the National Health Service (NHS) has confirmed.

A further 332 deaths in hospitals in England were recorded on Friday, including the baby, reports the Metro newspaper.

Announcing the news, an NHS England spokesperson said: "A further 332 people, who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 22,764.

"Patients were aged between six weeks and 103 years old. Twenty-two of the 332 patients (aged between 40 and 96) had no known underlying health condition."

The UK currently accounts for the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in Europe.

As of Saturday, the death toll stood at 31,316, with 212,629 confirmed cases.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The personal assistant of Ivanka Trump, US President Donald Trump's daughter and senior White House adviser, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the media reported.

But the assistant, who worked in personal capacity for Ivanka Trump, has not been around the her for weeks, Xinhua news agency quoted a CNN report as saying on Friday.

The development came on the same day when Vice President Mike Pence's spokesperson, Katie Miller, was confirmed to have been infected with the disease.

Amid concerns over the transmission of the contagious disease among senior administration officials, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said at Friday's briefing that measures were in effect to keep the virus from spreading among staff.

Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, also a senior advisers, have tested negative for the virus.

Trump, who along with Pence had tested negative, said on Friday that he was not worried, adding that "strong precautions" had been taken in the White House.

Trump on Thursday ordered daily coronavirus testing at the White House after it was reported that personal military valet had tested positive for the deadly disease.

The US currently accounts for the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

As of Saturday, there were 1,283,929 cases in the country, while the death toll stood at 77,180, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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New York, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) A five-year-old boy in New York City has died from a rare syndrome potentially associated with COVID-19, raising new concerns about the pandemic's full impact on children.

On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told the media that the boy died on Thursday, and there have been 73 reported cases of children with the syndrome in the state, reports Xinhua news agency.

The multi-system inflammatory syndrome has features that overlap with Kawasaki Disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome, including persistent fever, abdominal symptoms, rash and cardiovascular changes, according to an advisory issued by the state's health department on Wednesday.

The department asked health providers to immediately report those cases in patients who are under 21 years old, and perform a diagnostic and serological test to detect the presence of novel coronavirus or corresponding antibodies in the patients.

Health experts in New York were still trying to figure out whether the syndrome was linked to COVID-19, as not all 73 children tested positive for coronavirus or its antibodies.

In Westchester County in the suburbs of Manhattan, officials said on Friday that a seven-year-old boy died last week under similar circumstances, but it was still too early to determine whether his death was a result of COVID-19 complications or underlying diseases.

Similar cases have been recently reported in Britain and other European countries.

If the syndrome becomes prevalent, it would alter the assumption that children are largely not affected by the pandemic.

"This is every parent's nightmare, right, that your child may actually be affected by this virus," said Cuomo.

On Tuesday, New York City officials said that 15 children in the city had been hospitalized with this rare syndrome.

Four of them tested positive for coronavirus and six others had antibodies.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The global COVID-19 death toll has surpassed the 270,000 mark, while the number of cases from across the world was nearing 4 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday morning, the global death toll stood 274,898, the university's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US currently accounted for the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world at 77,180, followed by the UK in the second place with 31,316 fatalities.

The UK currently has the highest deaths in Europe.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are Italy (30,201), Spain (26,299), France (26,233), and Brazil (10,017), the CSSE data showed.

Meanwhile, the global number of cases increased to 3,938,064 on Saturday.

The US leads the global list with 1,283,929 cases, followed by Spain (222,857), Italy (217,185), the UK (212,629), Russia (187,859), France (176,202), Germany (170,588), Brazil (146,894), Turkey (135,569) and Iran (104,691), according to the CSSE figures.

Source: IANS

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Geneva, May 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) As many as 190,000 people across Africa could die in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic if crucial containment measures fail, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday.

The WHO warning comes as the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria, with others including South Africa and Ivory Coast, have begun relaxing some of their lockdown measures, reports the BBC.

The UN health body's estimates were based on prediction modelling, and focus on 47 countries in the WHO African region - Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti are not included.

Across the whole of the African continent more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths have been recorded by Africa's Centre for Disease Control.

By comparison, 140,000 have died in Western Europe, where the virus took hold several weeks earlier.

"It likely will smoulder in transmission hot spots," the BBC quoted WHO Africa head Matshidiso Moeti as saying in a statement.

"COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region.

"We need to test, trace, isolate and treat," Moeti added.

Source: IANS

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United Nations, May 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said the coronavirus pandemic has "unleashed a tsunami of hate and xenophobia".

Without naming specific countries, Guterres called for an "all-out effort" to end this state of affairs, the BBC reported.

He said migrants and refugees were especially affected, adding they had been "vilified as a source of the virus - and then denied access to medical treatment".

The UN chief also called on the media to remove "racist, misogynist and harmful content", and on educational institutions to focus on digital literacy at a time where fake news continues to spread online.

The UN chief's remarks come as the global was nearing 4 million, while the death toll stood at 269,598.

As of Friday, the number of cases worldwide increased to 3,847,278, with the US accounting for the highest with 1,256,972 infections, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

The country also has the highest number of deaths at 75,670, while the UK leads Europe with 30,689 fatalities.

Source: IANS

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Moscow, May 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Russia on Friday has recorded 10,699 new coronavirus cases, marking the sixth straight day with more than 10,000 positive tests.

Te new cases took the overall number of cases in the country to 187,859, reports the BBC.

With the emergence of 98 new fatalities, the death toll now stands at 1,723.

Source: IANS

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"We need leadership at the national level. We lost two months almost now in terms of our national response," Xinhua news agency quoted Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as saying to the Politico news outlet on Thursday.

"In terms of our national response, we have governors who are stepping up. Luckily. But now we have 50 different homegrown state solutions instead of a national response," Melinda Gates said.

"If we were doing the things that the exemplar countries are doing, like Germany, we would be testing, first, health care workers and then the most vulnerable, and you'd be doing contact tracing.

"And we would be able to start thinking about slowly reopening places in society in safe and healthy ways. But we have a lack of a coordinated effort. That's just the truth, across the US.

"We should be putting far more money into testing and tracing ... to where we can quarantine in the US," she added.

Pointing to a huge need at the global level "for a vaccine, for medicines, for testing", Melinda Gates said "more is needed for the international response, which the US really has been lacking in its response completely on the international front".

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding to support endeavours in combating COVID-19 globally.

It has been cooperating with national governments and international agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Unicef in the battle against the virus.

The US currently accounts for the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

As of Friday, there were 1,256,972 cases in the country, while the death toll stood at 75,670, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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Seoul, May 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Korean health authorities have warned against an increase in new COVID-19 cases, as the country reported yet another cluster infection on Friday after easing social distancing.

The country detected 12 more cases of the new coronavirus Thursday, most of which were imported, bringing the nation's total infections to 10,822, Yonhap News Agency quoted the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) as saying in its latest update on Friday.

The tally marked new daily cases of more than 10 for the first time in five days.

But health authorities said an additional 13 cases were reported on Friday, marking yet another cluster infection.

All of Friday's new infections were linked to a virus patient who visited three clubs in Seoul's popular multicultural neighbourhood of Itaewon on May 2, just days before the country shifted toward "everyday life quarantine".

So far, a total of 15 cases have been linked to the patient, according to health authorities.

At least 1,500 people were estimated to have visited the three clubs during the time when the patient visited, from midnight to 4 a.m.

The patient did not wear a protective mask inside the clubs, according to the health authorities.

"It is highly likely that there are more cases down the road," the Yonhap News Agency report quoted Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip as saying, urging people who visited the clubs to stay home and contact authorities if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

Meanwhile, rhe nation's death toll remained unchanged at 256, the KCDC said.

The overall fatality rate reached 2.37 per cent.

The rate for patients aged 80 and above stood at 25 per cent, the KCDC said.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) US President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered daily coronavirus testing at the White House after it was reported that one of his personal aides has tested positive for the deadly disease.

While addressing the media during a White House meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump said that he had had "very little contact, personal contact, with this gentleman", who is the President's personal military valet, adding that he had just undergone two coronavirus tests, one on Wednesday and another on Thursday, and the results were negative, reports Efe news.

However, Trump said he had ordered that people working at the White House be tested for the virus daily instead of weekly.

"So we test once a week, now we're going to go testing once a day," he said.

"But even when you test once a day, somebody could catch something."

Addressing Abbott as they chatted before reporters, Trump said: "I said yesterday, Governor, all people are warriors in this country. Right now we're all warriors."

On Thursday morning, the White House said in a statement that both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had undergone virus tests after the valet had tested positive.

The personal valets are attached to the elite military units that serve at the White House and often work closely both with the president and the first lady, and thus concern has grown about whether Trump has been exposed to the sometimes deadly virus, which is still spreading rampantly in certain parts of the country.

This is not the first virus case to surface within the President's official residence with one of Pence's advisers testing positive for COVID-19 in March.

Although the rates of both new infections and deaths in New York state, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, have been decelerating, the virus continues to spread throughout the rest of the country.

Concerned about the seriousness of the economic impact of the pandemic, Trump has been insisting on the need to resume business activities as soon as possible and has clashed on more than one occasion with medical experts who are recommending acting with greater prudence in confronting the huge public health crisis.

Trump said in his meeting with Abbott that Americans cannot remain confined for "years", with Texas being one of the states that has begun gradually easing movement restrictions.

On Thursday, unemployment application figures were released showing that in recent weeks more than 33 million people have lost their jobs in the US as economic activities have been severely curtailed.

On the other hand, US media reported that the White House had urged a review of the federal guidelines for resuming economic activity after the draft prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was released.

One of the objections to the CDC guidelines put forward by the White House task force on the virus is that they did not distinguish between urban zones - which have had greater numbers of infections - and rural areas where, so far, there have been far fewer cases and deaths.

Trump said that there are counties in Texas that are barely affected by the virus, adding that the most important thing is to get the economy moving again.

The provisional death toll of more than 75,000 remains below the initial estimates of the White House, which projected in the best case scenario between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from the virus, but it has exceeded the more optimistic initial figures Trump put forward of between 50,000 and 60,000 deaths.

Earlier this week, the President asserted that the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the US will be around 100,000 while simultaneously defending the decisions of many states to gradually ease quarantine measures, despite the fact that many of those states have not yet met the standards set forth in the original CDC guidelines for easing the restrictions.

Trump also admitted that easing the quarantine measures would certainly result in additional deaths.

The US currently accounts for the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

As of Friday, there were 1,256,972 cases in the country, while the death toll stood at 75,670, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) The first coronavirus-related death of an immigrant detained in the US has been reported at a centre in California, a media report said on Thursday.

The 57-year-old man, named by relatives as Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia, had been held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego since January and had been in hospital on a ventilator for a week, the BBC report quoted the San Diego Union-Tribune as saying.

According to Escobar Mejia's sister, Rosa, they had fled civil war in El Salvador in the 1980s to join another sister, Maribel, living in the US.

Both sisters became US citizens but Escobar Mejia did not get permanent residence.

Although this is the first death, there has been a surge in the coronavirus crisis at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centres.

Otay Mesa, which currently holds about 1,000 people, has seen a spike of infections and detainees have complained that they are not being adequately protected.

More than 200 people held there have tested positive for the virus, according to the Union-Tribune newspaper.

The US currently accounts for the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world.

As of Thursday morning, there were 1,228,603 cases, with 73,431 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) US President Donald Trump said that the White House Coronavirus Task Force will continue "indefinitely", a day after officials hinted that the team would wind down.

The task force "will continue on indefinitely with its focus on SAFETY & OPENING UP OUR COUNTRY AGAIN", Trump tweeted on Wednesday, adding that the administration "may add or subtract people to it".

He also said the response team will focus on developing vaccines and therapeutics for the coronavirus, reports Xinhua news agency.

Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the task force, said on Tuesday that "conversations are being had about winding down the work for the task force," and that the White House is looking at the Memorial Day -- which falls on May 25 -- as a possible "window".

He made the remarks in a briefing in response to a question about a New York Times report on the potential disbanding of the team.

"I think we're having conversations about that and about what the proper time is for the task force to complete its work and for the ongoing efforts to take place on an agency-by-agency level," Pence told reporters, adding that talks were ongoing about a transition plan with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The possible adjustment to the task force, whose members include the US' top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, came after the New York Times, citing an internal document acquired from FEMA, reported that daily coronavirus-related deaths in the country could nearly double to reach about 3,000 by June 1.

It also predicted that new cases will probably average at 200,000 a day by the end of May, up from the current daily rate of about 25,000.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement on Monday that the document had nothing to do with the White House, "nor has it been presented to the coronavirus task force or gone through inter-agency vetting".

The US currently accounts for the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world.

As of Thursday morning, there were 1,228,603 cases, with 73,431 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

Source: IANS

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By Arul Louis

New York, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Although COVID-19 affects children less frequently, officials say they have been diagnosed in the New York area with a serious mystery illness connected to it that affects the heart and blood vessels.

The state's Health Department said on Wednesday that 64 children were hospitalised with "Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome (PMSIS) Potentially Associated with COVID-19".

The children who were found to have inflammation of the blood vessels, including coronary arteries, also tested positive for COVID-19 and many required respirators.

One of the affected children in New York City is of Indian origin, according to WNBC TV.

Eight-year-old Jayden Hardowar's parents told the station that he came down with it days after he seemed to be recovering from COVID-19 and had to have a ventilator.

In an advisory to hospitals and other medical facilities, the health department described it as similar to Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation of the blood vessels, and toxic shock syndrome.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Kawasaki disease named for the Japanese doctor who first diagnosed it is a leading cause of acquired heart disease in the US.

New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said that even though children are by and large mildly affected by COVID-19, they are more severely affected when PMSIS develops.

Detailing the symptoms, she said: "Generally, children present with prolonged high fevers, several days of very high fevers. They can also have very red eyes, very brightly coloured lips. One of the hallmarks that we see is what we call a strawberry tongue, which means their tongue is very bright and red."

They can also have a rash and swelling in the hands and feet, she added.

"If any child is experiencing these symptoms, particularly in combination, call your doctor right away," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

A state survey found that about three in five patients admitted to hospitals for COVID-19 were over the age of 60, according to New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

Children developing COVID-19 and PMSIS associated with it is considered a mystery and a warning of risks to young people, who should observe the coronavirus restrictions.

WNBC quoted former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb as saying that these cases appear to disprove the assumption that coronavirus "wasn't really affecting kids".

Jayden Hardowar is now recovering in a hospital on Long Island.

His mother, Navita Hardowar told WNBC that after he had seemed to have rcovered from a bout of fever and diarrhoea while still being weak she heard him call her in a feeble voice.

She said she found him unresponsive with his arms and head twisted backwards and his face and lips blue.

His older brother Tyrone, a 15-year-old scout, and his father Roup Harodwar performed an emergency cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on him while his mother called an ambulance, the TV station reported.

He was taken to a local hospital, but transferred to the children's hospital on Long Island, the station reported.

Jayden Hardowar was off the ventilator and was recovering, though weak, according to his family.

Similar cases have also been reported from the UK and the World Health Organisation's Emergencies Programmes Executive Director Mike Ryan said that doctors had been alerted to wathc for it and researchers to look into it.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

Source: IANS

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New York, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Sixty-four children have been hospitalised across New York with a disease possibly linked to the COVID-19, the state's health department said.

In an advisory issued to healthcare providers on Wednesday, the New York State Department of Health said that as of Tuesday, 64 potential cases of what it called the Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome Associated with COVID-19 have been reported in children in hospitals statewide, including New York City, reports Xinhua news agency reported.

"Thankfully most children with COVID-19 only experience mild symptoms, but in some, a dangerous inflammatory syndrome can develop," said New York State Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.

This syndrome has features that overlap with Kawasaki Disease and Toxic Shock Syndrome, including persistent fever, abdominal symptoms, rash and even cardiovascular changes requiring intensive care.

The department asked health providers to immediately report those cases in patients who are under 21 years old, and perform a diagnostic and serological test to detect the presence of novel coronavirus or corresponding antibodies in the patient.

The advisory also said that similar cases among children have been recently reported from the UK.

"While we continue to reduce cases through social distancing, discoveries like this remind us we are still in the middle of our response to this deadly pandemic," said Zucker.

On Tuesday, New York City officials said that 15 children in the city had been hospitalized with this rare syndrome.

Over half of the children required blood pressure support and five required mechanical ventilation. No fatalities have been reported.

Source: IANS

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Moscow, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Russia has confirmed 10,102 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the overall tally to 155,370, its country's coronavirus response centre said on Tuesday.

The death toll from the pandemic increased by 95 to 1,451, while 19,865 people have recovered, including 1,770 over the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, confirmed 5,714 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its total to 80,115.

Russia's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog said on Tuesday that 222,510 people were under medical observation as of Monday.

More than 4.4 million lab tests for COVID-19 have been conducted across the country so far, it added.

Source: IANS

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By Arul Louis

New York, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) With about half of the 50 US states beginning to relax the COVID-19 restrictions without fully meeting the criteria for it, new models of the pandemic's deadly force say a sharply higher death toll is possible.

A day after President Donald Trump acknowledged that 100,000 deaths, about double the prediction he made last month, was possible, a model that his administration has cited projected on Monday that 134,000 could die due to the pandemic.

Another controversial projection under preparation laid out the possibility that by June 1, there could be 200,000 new cases with 3,000 deaths every day.

Confirmed cases in the US has reached 1,180,634 with 68,934 deaths, according to the tally maintained by the Johns Hopkins University.

The social distancing guidelines issued by the Trump administration expired at the end of last month, although the White House Coronavirus Task Force urges people to continue taking the precautions.

Virtually all of the loosening of the social distancing restrictions, from allowing some non-essential retailers to open to permitting restaurants and hair salons to operate, are taking place without meeting the three-step criteria announced by the task force that includes a downward trajectory of confirmed cases and the adequate availability of testing and spare critical care facilities.

Trump, who has been saying that the economy should reopen and has sounded sympathetic to anti-restriction protesters, has himself criticised Georgia State for moving too far and too soon.

But states like New York and New Jersey are holding on to restrictions. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on Monday that the state's schools will remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

The projections of higher rates of infections and deaths are based on outcomes of the rush by many states to reopen.

With the unemployment rate at 16 per cent and 30 million people without jobs, Governors and local leaders are caught between protests across the country demanding the reopening of the economy and the cautions from health officials against lifting restrictions and risking a COVID-19 flareups.

Speaking at a televised town hall meeting at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Trump acknowledged: "We're going to lose anywhere from 75, 80 to 100,000 people.

"That's a horrible thing. We shouldn't lose one person over this."

He said that without the steps taken by him, the deaths could have been as high as five million.

He also said that COVID-19 could flare up after it was doused and "we may have to put out a fire".

The number of new cases have plateaued between about 24,000 and 30,000 per day, while coming down in some hot spots like New York, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US.

Public health experts fear that the flareups due to the easing of restrictions could happen in places that have so far escaped the worst of it.

Christopher Murray, the director of University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE), attributed the increase from the earlier projection of 72,000 death to 134,00 to the "premature relaxation of social distancing" in some states.

The Trump administration has relied on the IMHE projections.

Murray disputed the projections in another study underway that predict 3,000 deaths per day by June.

Those projections were in slide projections with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) logo that were leaked to The Washington Post and posted on its site.

The administration said that the report "is not a White House document nor has it been presented to the Coronavirus Task Force or gone through interagency vetting. This data is not reflective of any of the modelling done by the task force or data that the task force has analyzed".

A CDC spokesperson denied that the agency had issued the projections.

Murray said that the high projections in that report were based on the likelihood of outbreaks on the level of New York happening elsewhere.

He said: "We don't see that because we're building into the modelling the rising temperatures and rising testing and contact tracing. That will put the brakes on transmission."

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

Source: IANS

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Ottawa, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) Canada has joined the European Union (EU) and other countries in a global effort to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 when the country's five provinces began easing restrictions on businesses and services imposed during the pandemic.

The goal of the EU-initiated "Coronavirus Global Response" is to raise more than $8 billion for medical research, and the Canadian government has so far committed $604 million toward vaccine development and finding treatments for the disease, reports Xinhua news agency.

"It is really important that the world comes together to collaborate," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his daily COVID-19 news conference here on Monday.

"Even once we find a vaccine -- whether it's in Canada or elsewhere around the world -- we will share the vaccine in its formula."

On the same day, Canada's two largest provinces gave the green light to the reopening of mainly seasonal businesses in Ontario, and storefront retail operations outside the Montreal area in Quebec.

The Montreal metropolis has more than half of the province's COVID-19 cases, and with no sign of the pandemic curve flattening, Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced on Monday that the opening of retail stories in the province's most populous region, scheduled for next May 11, would be delayed by a week.

Meanwhile, non-essential medical activities, such as dentistry and physiotherapy can now resume in the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as in Manitoba, which also authorized restaurants to open patios and hair salons to welcome customers.

Schools will remain mostly shuttered in Canada, except for in Quebec, where elementary students will begin returning to their classrooms next Monday.

There were a total of 60,772 COVID-19 cases in Canada with 3,854 deaths.

Source: IANS

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Washington, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) The global number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus has surpassed the 250,000 mark, according to the the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Tuesday morning, the global death toll stood at 251,510, the university's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US currently accounted for the world's highest deaths at 68,922.

The other countries with more than 20,000 deaths were Italy (29,079), the UK (28,809), Spain (25,428), and France (25,204), the CSSE data showed.

The global number of COVID-19 cases on Tuesday morning stood at 3,582,469.

In terms of cases, the US topped the list with a total of 1,180,288 infections, according to the CSSE data.

It was followed by Spain (218,011), Italy (211,938), the UK (191,832), France (169,583), Germany (166,152), Russia (145,268), Turkey (127,659), and Brazil (108,266).

Source: IANS

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Rome, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Italy on Monday began Phase 2 of its COVID-19 lockdown de-escalation, which will see some measures easing and the restart activities.

Manufacturing of products like textiles and fashion items, construction and the wholesale trade linked to active sectors will resume activities with 4.4 million people expected to return to work, reports Efe news.

However, bars and restaurants can only resume business with home deliveries or takeaways.

They are expected to reopen on June 1 if the progression of infections and deaths continues a downward trend.

Meanwhile, all shops that have not already been authorized to operate (currently food, personal hygiene, kiosks, pharmacies, tobacconists, bookstores, children's and baby clothing stores, and plant and flower shops are the only open shops), will remain closed until May 198.

The government has also allowed people to visit relatives, although a ban on gathering remains in place.

The measure however, excludes friends.

Travel for the existing authorised reasons, which include work and health, will only be allowed within the same region of a person's residence.

Students or workers who were caught in another city or town when the lockdown was implemented will now be able to return to their home or primary place of residence.

Once they do so, they will not be able to return to the region they travelled from.

The rules that will determine the reopening of transport services will be managed regionally although respecting social distancing is obligatory across the country.

Fewer numbers of passengers on vehicles and trains will be the norm and all users will have to wear masks and in some regions disposable gloves.

As of Monday there will be no timeframes for doing sports or going on walks.

The rules that forced people to stay close to home on outings have also been lifted. Travel to visit green areas for a walk, run, or any other form of physical exercise will be allowed.

From Monday funerals with a maximum of 15 people will be allowed, while the use of masks is obligatory.

The de-escalation comes as Italy, one of worst hit countries in Europe, has registered 210,717 COVID-19 cases, with 28,884 deaths.

Source: IANS

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Paris/London, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) France and the UK will start the trials of the their respective COVID-19 tracing apps from next week, the two governments have confirmed.

French Minister for Digital Affairs Cedric O said on Sunday the testing of the "StopCOVID" contact tracing app will begin on May 11 when the country starts to ease lockdown measures, Xinhua news agency.

The Minister presented the state-supported app as a key element of France's strategy to stave off thepandemic, as authorities grapple with the prospect of mass testing.

"There's nothing magical about this app, but it's not technological coquetry either," he wrote on online publishing platform Medium.

"It's only useful if it's integrated into a global health system."

Meanwhile, the UK will begin the trial its own coronavirus contact tracing app next week on the Isle of Wight, according to Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove.

"This week we will be piloting new test, track and trace procedures on the Isle of Wight, with a view to having that in place more widely later this month," Gove told a news conference Sunday.

As of Monday, France reported 168,925 COVID-19 cases, with 24,900 deaths, while the UK registered 187,842 infections and 28,520 fatalities.

Source: IANS

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Wuhan, May 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) There has been no new confirmed case of the novel coronavirus in China's Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, where the deadly disease originated last December, for the 30th consecutive day, health officials said on Monday.

The provincial health commission said that as of Sunday, there were no existing confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hubei, reports Xinhua news agency.

The province still had 654 asymptomatic cases under medical observation, after nine such cases were added and six released from quarantine on Sunday.

A total of 282,701 close contacts of COVID-19 patients in the province had been tracked by Sunday, 1,280 of whom were still under medical observation.

As of Sunday, Hubei had reported 68,128 confirmed COVID-19 cases in total, including 50,333 in Wuhan, the provincial capital.

Hubei lowered its novel coronavirus emergency response level from the highest to the second-highest starting May 2.

As of Monday morning, China has 83,959 coronavirus cases, with 4,637 deaths.

Source: IANS

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Rome/Berlin, May 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) A gradual reopening of activities will begin in Italy from Monday, after residents spent a number of weeks in confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic, while churches in Germany resumed prayer services on Sunday.

In Italy, which has been one of the worst affected countries in the world, residents on Sunday spent their final weekend in strict lockdown, reports Efe news.

As of Sunday, Italy accounted for 209,328 COVID-19 cases, with the second highest death toll in the world at 28,710.

The rate of fresh infections and hospitalisations has been decreasing in recent weeks, which has led the government to announce a partial reactivation of the economy from next week.

Throughout last week, public transport has been adapted in cities such as Rome, with markings on seats on the metro and buses to prevent overcrowding.

Meanwhile in Germany, also one of the worst-hit countries in Europe, churches opened for Sunday services for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown began on March 22, the BBC reported.

Last week, German authorities said playgrounds and cultural institutions such as museums and zoos would be given the green light to re-open.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the federal and state governments will not make a decision on the hospitality industry at their next meeting on May 6, but instead focus on further relaxing the rules for schools, childcare centres and sports facilities.

Germany's death toll rose by 74 to 6,649 in figures released on Sunday, while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 793 to 162,496, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

In other parts of Europe, Portugal will begin de-escalation measures from Monday, with small shops and hairdressers due to reopen, although authorities have warned that the risk has not disappeared.

There have been more than 1,000 deaths and 25,100 confirmed cases in the country, which is home to around 10 million people, with a recent decline in the number of daily fatalities and cases.

Meanwhile, the French government has decided to extend the state of health emergency, imposed since March 24, until July 24, since lifting it "would be premature" as the risks of a resurgence were present as the cases escalated to 168,518, with 24,763 deaths.

Similarly, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has that he will ask Parliament next week to extend the State of Alarm that was imposed on March 15, for another 15 days when it expires on May 9.

His remarks came on Saturday when a majority of Spaniards were allowed outdoors to take exercise for the first time after seven weeks of virtual lockdown.

Spain currently accounts for 216,582 coronavirus cases, with 25,100 deaths.

For the first time, Belgium reported less than 100 daily COVID-19 cases, while it was also preparing to reopen certain businesses from Monday.

Authorities will also increase the level of outdoor exercise for residents, including non-contact sports such as tennis, athletics, fishing, kayaking, and golf.

Source: IANS

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Moscow, May 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) Russia on Sunday reported a new single-day record with 10,633 COVID-19 cases confirmed over the last 24 hours, raising its total number of infections to 134,687, health authorities said.

Russia has been updating its single-day record every day since April 30, Xinhua news agency quoted the country's coronavirus response centre as saying.

The death toll from the pandemic increased by 58 to 1,280 on Sunday, while 16,639 people have recovered, including 1,626 over the last 24 hours, the statement said.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, confirmed 5,948 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 68,606.

Results of screening among various population groups indicated that about 2 per cent of Moscow's total residents -- 12.68 million in January -- may have been infected with COVID-19, according to the city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

There is no reason to think that the pandemic situation has stabilized in the country and safety rules can be ignored, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Source: IANS

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