COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 17 July

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

2. WHO Africa: Global solidarity needed to tackle COVID-19, Ebola resurgence

The world must keep focusing on other health threats beside COVID-19, the head of the World Health Organization in Africa has warned.

Cases of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo have reached 56 - higher than the previous outbreak between May and July 2018.

“Responding to Ebola in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is complex, but we must not let COVID-19 distract us from tackling other pressing health threats,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said.

Speaking at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum, Dr Moeti said there have been 640,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 14,000 lives lost.

She highlighted the plight of refugees, who are "the most vulnerable people in the world to the COVID-19 pandemic".

The region hosts more than 26% of the world’s refugees and around 19 million internally displaced people who have fled their homes due to violence and conflict.

Dr Moeti said: "In crowded and sometimes very-low-resource settings, such as camps and settlements, the basic preventive measures for COVID-19 of physical distancing and frequent hand hygiene can be incredibly challenging to implement."

The UN has called for $10.3 billion to help vulnerable populations in Africa access life-essential services for health, water and sanitation, and food and nutrition.

Dr Moeti said: "This action is urgently needed. Already funding shortages have resulted in reduced food rations in some settlements and imminent threats of increases in acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia.

"Global solidarity is needed more than ever in fighting this epidemic."

3. Australia COVID-19 test breakthrough

In what they are calling a 'world-first' breakthrough, scientists in Australia have devised a blood test for coronavirus that takes just 20 minutes.

Researchers at Monash University said their test can determine if someone is currently infected and if they have been infected in the past, Reuters reports.

“Short-term applications include rapid case identification and contact tracing to limit viral spread, while population screening to determine the extent of viral infection across communities is a longer-term need,” the researchers said in a paper published in the journal ACS Sensors.