Health and Healthcare Systems

COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 11 September

A woman rides down an escalator amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic at a shopping mall in Seoul, South Korea, September 9, 2020.   REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji     TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RC2VUI9JF4KJ

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Image: REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

  • This daily round-up brings you a selection of the latest news updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected.
  • Top stories: A robo-reminder; urgent call for funding; record case rise in India.

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now reached more than 28.1 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed coronavirus deaths now stands at more than 900,000.

Updated projections from the European Central Bank show that the Eurozone will suffer a smaller recession that previously feared. But, inflation is likely to undershoot its target for several years.

A new BBC poll shows the uneven impact of the pandemic, with younger people and those living in poorer countries reporting higher levels of hardship. 69% of people in poorer countries reported a drop in income, compared with 45% in richer ones.

Uganda is set to reopen its only international airport on 1 October. It's been closed to commercial flights for more than five months.

A primary school in Spain's Basque Country has been forced to close after several teachers tested positive for COVID-19.

Engineers have developed a robot that can detect whether people are wearing a mask - and if not, remind them to put one on.

A British start-up says it's developed a 20-second saliva COVID-19 test. It has 99.8% sensitivity and 96.7% specificity, iAbra said.

The French government will debate today whether to introduce new, local lockdowns, in an effort to tackle rising COVID-19 cases.

Positive COVID-19 cases in England jumped 43% at the end of August, compared with the week before, according to the latest data. The jump comes as new restrictions on social gatherings were announced in England. From Monday, gatherings will be restricted to six people.

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2. Urgent call for funding

United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has called for an additional $35 billion for the World Health Organization's ACT Accelerator.

The ACT Accelerator programme is designed to back vaccines, treatments and diagnostics in the fight against COVID-19. Just $3 billion has been contributed so far, Guterres told on online event yesterday.

"We now need $35 billion more to go from 'start up' to 'scale up and impact'," he said. "There is real urgency in these numbers. Without an infusion of $15 billion over the next three months, beginning immediately, we will lose the window of opportunity."

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed this message. He said that while the programme was already supporting research, "we need to rapidly scale up our clinical trials, manufacturing, licensing and regulation capacity so that these products can get to people and start saving lives."

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3. Record case rise in India

India has reported another record daily jump in coronavirus cases of 96,551. The rise brings its total caseload to 4.5 million, according to data from the federal health minsitry.

Only the United States has more confirmed cases, as infections continue to grow rapidly.

Deaths have remained relatively low, relative to infections, but more than 1,000 deaths have been reported every day for the last 10 days. Total deaths have reached 76,271.

India coronavirus cases COVID-19 infections confirmed cases
Cases are rising rapidly in India. Image: Our World in Data

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