Covid-19 UPDATE: All the latest news from the world – July 12

Today the total number of Covid-19 patients in the world has reached 12,847,288 with 567,734 people dying due to the effects of the virus. 7,483,246 people are registered as ‘recovered’ from their bout of Covid-19. The numbers of new cases, worldwide, is accelerating. The current hotspots are the US, Brazil, India, South Africa and Mexico – presenting with the highest numbers of new cases in the past 24 hours. (As of 11am Thai time)

* Data listing Top 5 countries with highest number of cases in past 24 hours – worldometers.com

Here is a sample of news snippets related to Covid-19 around the world in the past 24 hours…

• At least 33 of the US’s 50 states experienced an increase in new Covid-19 cases compared to last week.

• Cases keep arising in the southern Australian state of Victoria, more specifically in the northern suburbs of its capital, Melbourne. State Premier Daniel Andrews says another 273 infections have been recorded in the past 24 hours. The state has now recorded 1,184 active cases. 57 of those are in hospital, with 16 patients in intensive care.

Victoria is battling a worrying spike in cases following months of virtual containment. Last week, the state closed its borders with New South Wales and South Australia.

• Infections in Latin America and the Caribbean areas have now surpassed 3 million this week. Another 1,071 people have died from Covid-19 in Brazil. The South American country’s death toll now stands at 71,469, the second-highest in the world.

Among those who have tested positive is the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Following his diagnosis, Bolsonaro finally acknowledged the grave risk posed by the virus, which he has in the past dismissed as just a “little flu.” He says he has been suffering “fever, aches and malaise”.

• South Africa’s Health minister Zweli Mkhize is warning of a Covid-19 “storm”. 13,497 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, a total of 264,184 infections including 3,971 deaths. More than a third of cases are in new hot spot of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and capital, Pretoria.

• US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public yesterday after refusing to wear a face mask in public for many months. The President visited a wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.

Mr. Trump was seen briefly while walking with staff, who also were wearing masks, at the medical centre. The President made no remarks to the attending media while wearing one. He later remarked that wearing a mask while visiting the hospital is “a very appropriate thing.”

“I think when you’re in the hospital you should definitely wear a mask. That wouldn’t be difficult at all for me.”

• Taiwan has wrapped up an annual film festival with an awards ceremony as it stages more public events after emerging from it small Covid-19 outbreak of only a few hundred cases. Actors and local glitterati lined up for photo shoots with no social distancing last night. No one was wearing face masks in historic Zhongshan Hall in the capital of the self-governing island off China’s east coast. A baseball game in the city of Taichung drew more than 10,000 fans for the first time this season. There has been only 451 confirmed coronavirus cases and 7 deaths on the island, which has a population of about 23 million.

• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 248 to 198,804 in the past 24 hours.

• The number of New Yorkers hospitalised with Covid-19 has fallen to the lowest point in nearly 4 months. State officials reported 799 hospitalisations yesterday, the lowest number of Covid-19 patient admissions since March 18.

• Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has announced he has been hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19. The popular 77 year old actor sent a Tweet yesterday saying that he tested positive and asked that anyone who has “been in close proximity in the last 10 days to “please get themselves tested”.

Bachchan is a living legend in Hindi-language cinema and many consider him to be India’s greatest living actor. Bachchan has made has made more than 180 films in a career spanning five decades.

• Venezuela has now recorded 9,178 cases of Covid-19, after another 375 infections were registered in the past 24 hours. At least 85 people have now died from the virus in the country. Two deaths were reported on Saturday. South America is now one of the world’s emerging hotspots for new Covid-19 cases.

SOURCES: Reuters | CNN | USA Today | Al Jazeera | Worldometers.com