File photo. US President Donald Trump reacted angrily to the Supreme Court rulings. AFP/File/JIM WATSON
“I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask,” Trump tells reporters.
More than 565,000 deaths
The pandemic has killed at least 565,363 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1100 GMT on Sunday based on official sources.
The United States is the hardest-hit country with 134,815 deaths. It is followed by Brazil with 71,469, Britain with 44,798, Italy with 34,945 and Mexico with 34,730 fatalities.
Sharp rise of virus cases
The pandemic has been accelerating sharply since the start of July, according to a count carried out by AFP from official sources.
The three biggest daily worldwide increases in new cases were seen on Saturday (more than 230,000), Friday (more than 225,000) and Thursday (nearly 220,000).
The number of declared cases worldwide — now at nearly 13 million — has doubled in just a month and a half.
Trouble in Bollywood
Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai has tested positive for the virus, a Mumbai city authority official tells AFP, just a day after her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan says he was in hospital with the infectious disease.
Tragic’ resurgence in Iran
Iran’s supreme leader calls the resurgence of the virus in the country “truly tragic” and urges all citizens to help stem what has been the region’s deadliest outbreak.
Hungary gets tough on travel
Hungary’s government says it is barring travel from Africa, most of Asia apart from China and Japan, and restricting entry from several European countries after worldwide spikes in cases.
Indonesia outbreak
Nearly 1,300 people at the Indonesian Army Officer Candidate School in the country’s most populated province of West Java test positive and are quarantined, with 30 initially hospitalised with mild symptoms, an official says.
Of the 1,280 confirmed infections, 991 are cadets and the rest are staff and their family members. Most have no symptoms.
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