Coronavirus live news: Trump pushes to withdraw WHO funding immediately
US public health departments being told to prepare November vaccine distribution; signs Covid-19 easing in Brazil; Berlusconi tests positive. Follow the latest updates
- Trump sets up fight with Congress over plan to cut dues to WHO immediately
- Hydrocortisone found to save lives of some patients
- Schools reopen across Europe as cases grow
Italy’s former prime minister the media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi announced Wednesday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is in quarantine at home. Berlusconi, who once owned AC Milan, stressed that he would continue his political activities.
Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll appears to be easing for the first time since May, Reuters reports, a sign the Latin American country could be descending from a long infection plateau that has seen it suffer the world’s second-worst outbreak after the United States.
With nearly 4 million confirmed cases, the virus has killed over 120,000 people in Brazil. But the level of average daily deaths dropped below 900 per day last week - the lowest in three and a half months and below the rate of both the United States and India, according to a Reuters tally.
Researchers at Imperial College London also calculate that the transmission rate in Brazil, at which each person infected with the coronavirus infects another person, is now below 1, the level required for new infections to slow.
However, the rate previously fell below 1 in August, only to rebound a week later, according to Imperial.
The government statistics are also volatile. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Brazil registered more than 1,100 deaths each day, and experts say it is too early to say the worst is over.
“We are on a downward trend compared to the previous high plateau,” said Roberto Medronho, an infectious diseases expert at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. “But, the numbers are still high and we have to remain vigilant so that it doesn’t grow again.”
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2F2WVxy
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