India has become the third country in the world to record more than one million coronavirus cases, while the United States has reported more than 70,000 new cases in a single day, a record daily increase for the seventh time this month.
The latest:
- Struggling India crosses 1 million coronavirus cases.
- Canada, U.S. confirm extension of travel ban into late August.
- EU meets to work on post-COVID-19 economic recovery plan.
- COVID-19 taking a toll in prisons with high infection rates, CBC News analysis shows.
- U.S. sets single-day record with more than 70,000 new cases.
- Brazil surpasses 2 million confirmed cases of coronavirus, health ministry says.
- Feds will provide provinces and territories with $19B for ‘safe restart’ of economy.
- Lives remembered: Honouring the Canadians who have died from COVID-19.
India crossed one million coronavirus cases on Friday, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s feeble health-care system.
A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832.
The grim milestone comes at a time when several Indian states are imposing focused lockdowns to stem the outbreak amid frantic efforts by local governments to protect the economy.
So far, three states — Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu — have accounted for more than half of total cases.
The India-based pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila plans to complete late-stage trials for its potential coronavirus vaccine in March 2021 and could produce up to 100 million doses a year if trials are successful, chairman Pankaj Patel said.
Cadila’s vaccine candidate, dubbed ZyCov-D, is one of dozens being developed around the world to fight the coronavirus.
In the United States, health officials reported more than 75,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a record daily increase for the seventh time this month, according to a Reuters tally.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious diseases expert, has warned that cases could soon top 100,000 a day if Americans do not come together to take steps necessary to halt the spread of the virus.
Deaths reported in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas are largely the reason the U.S. has the highest death toll for COVID-19 of any country, a tally now exceeding 138,000.
Border restrictions until Aug. 20
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Canada and the United States have agreed to extend their mutual ban on non-essential travel between the two countries until Aug. 20.
Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf tweeted on Thursday the decision, applying to both Canada and Mexico, was made after “close collaboration with our neighbours” to slow the travel-related spread of the virus.
The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to so-called “discretionary” travel like vacations and shopping trips since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the continent in mid-March, an agreement that had been set to expire July 21.
Two major U.S. retailers on Thursday joined the growing list of national chains that will require customers to wear face masks regardless of where cities or states stand on the issue.
Target’s mandatory face mask policy will go into effect Aug. 1, and all CVS drug stores will begin requiring them on Monday. More than 80 per cent of Target’s 1,800 stores already require customers to wear masks due to local and state regulations.
The announcements come one day after the nation’s largest retailer, Walmart, said it would mandate face coverings for all customers starting Monday.
As of 5 a.m. ET on Friday, the global coronavirus case count stood at 13,818,963, with 590,213 deaths and 7,727,518 cases considered recovered, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are likely higher for various reasons, including limited testing.
Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.
European Union leaders were meeting in Brussels on Friday for their first face-to-face talks since the pandemic hit. They have acknowledged they are far from reaching a deal on what would be an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion US) EU budget and virus recovery fund.
