Coronavirus: Bolivia leader Jeanine Anez catches COVID-19 as US cases soar

Interim Bolivian president Jeanine Anez has become the latest world leader to test positive for the coronavirus.

Jeanine Anez takes a blood test before donating blood last month. Picture: AFP

Interim Bolivian president Jeanine Anez became the ­latest world leader to test positive for the coronavirus as the US notched yet another record-breaking surge of cases, while ­global infections and fatalities continued their relentless rise.

A day after the US began its ­formal pullout from the World Health Organisation, former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clarke and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf were appointed by the WHO to lead an inquiry into its handling of the pandemic. They will report their initial findings in November.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 550,000 lives across the planet, and infected more than 12 million people since it emerged in China in late 2019 — among them Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, on Friday AEST, Ms Anez.

In a video on Twitter Ms Anez said she felt “fine” and would keep working from isolation.

Mr Bolsonaro said he was feeling “very well” after announcing he had the virus earlier this week. Mr Johnson, who contracted the disease in March, has recovered.

Bolivia is gearing up for a general election, despite the country of 11 million recording almost 43,000 virus infections and more than 1500 deaths. By the time the polls are held in less than two months, the government expects there will be 130,000 cases.

The US notched up half that figure in just one day on Thursday, with 65,551 new cases recorded by Johns Hopkins University— a new high. The country, the hardest-hit in the world by the pandemic, has a total caseload of more than 3.1 million, with 133,822 deaths. It has suffered a spike in infections in recent weeks, and experts worry the death rate may soon follow the same trajectory.

“We’re in a very difficult, challenging period right now,” top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said. “I would think we need to get the states pausing in their opening process.” However, he added: “I don’t think we need to go back to an extreme of shutting down.”

US President Donald Trump, who has publicly disagreed with Dr Fauci, downplayed the spike. “For the 1/100th time, the reason we show so many Cases, compared to other countries that haven’t done nearly as well as we have, is that our TESTING is much bigger and better,” he tweeted. “We have tested 40,000,000 people. If we did 20,000,000 instead, Cases would be half, etc.”

The virus is still infecting new populations: the first case was recorded in northwest Syria on Thursday, reviving fears of disaster if the pandemic reaches the rebel bastion’s refuge camps.

And the response remains chaotic in places already in the grip of outbreaks. Exhausted medics in Algeria pleaded for authorities to enforce hygiene rules. “We’re working non-stop. We’re totally exhausted,” said Mohamed Yousfi, head of infectiology at the Boufarik hospital near Algiers. Some staff were so tired they had fainted or had car accidents, he said.

Thousands of Serbians protested for a third day against the government’s handling of the crisis — though the demonstrations remained largely peaceful after two nights of violence.

In South Africa, where the outbreak is yet to peak, authorities rushed to calm citizens after health officials said they were ready to bury more than a million people, with long rows of graves already dug.

And, in a potentially worrying discovery, scientists in Italy said there was “strong evidence” that mothers with COVID-19 could pass the virus on to their unborn children.

Virus lockdowns have dealt a staggering blow to the global economy. The pandemic could push 45 million people from the middle classes into poverty in already economically troubled Latin America and the Caribbean, the UN warned. A further 1.3 million US workers filed for unemployment last week, government figures showed — though the pace of layoffs has slowed.

As talk of a second wave of the virus multiplies, some of the world’s most populous nations including India, Pakistan and Brazil are still reeling from their first outbreaks. In the Middle East, hard-hit Iran reported a record single-day death toll of 221, taking its total over 12,300.

In Europe, France continued to re-emerge from the darkest days, announcing the Eiffel Tower would reopen its top level for the first time in three months.

However countries farther east have found themselves plunged back into restrictions with a resurgent virus, such as Bulgaria, which banned sports fans from stadiums and shut bars and clubs.

AFP