Covid-19 global caseload tops 15 million

The number of novel coronavirus infections around the world passed 15 million on Thursday.

The number of novel coronavirus infections around the world passed 15 million on Thursday, with Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the hardest-hit regions, notching more than four million cases.

Papua New Guinea asked for World Health Organisation help after a rapidly spreading new outbreak sparked preparations for large-scale community transmission in the under-resourced country.

Having mostly dodged the COVID-19 pandemic until now, PNG reported on Thursday it had detected three new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 30 — up from 11 on Sunday.

A chef at the Rocket restaurant in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, protests against South Africa’s national lockdown regulations. Picture: AFP

With limited coronavirus testing and many positive cases found in health workers, there are fears the virus may have a stronger foothold than those detected cases may indicate.

National pandemic response controller and Police Commissioner David Manning expressed “serious concerns on the alarming rate of increase of COVID-19 cases in Port Moresby and the likely spread to the other pro­vinces”, saying there was a “high likelihood of expanded community transmission”.

PNG’s health system is already under severe pressure from the widespread transmission of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, as well as one of the world’s few remaining outbreaks of polio.

Mr Manning said the WHO was in the process of mobilising international emergency medical teams to deploy to the country. He said there was “an urgent need” for emergency health workers to help the country manage a surge in cases and ­administer isolation facilities.

“We are also discussing with the PNG Defence Force to assist … the Health Department. We have always said we don’t have adequate facilities.”

In the US, home to more than a quarter of global infections, President Donald Trump warned the pandemic was likely to get worse before it got better.

The US data makes grim reading, with more than 143,000 fatalities and regular daily death tolls of more than 1000.

Signs are emerging in other parts of the world that the virus quickly springs back when lockdown measures are lifted.

Belgium, Hong Kong and Japanese capital Tokyo had all used restrictive measures to successfully beat outbreaks earlier in the pandemic, but all are now facing an upsurge in cases.

Hong Kong set new daily records for confirmed cases on Wednesday, and Tokyo’s governor urged residents to stay at home during a forthcoming holiday as cases climb. Belgian officials said people must stick to social-distancing guidelines to halt a “snowball effect before it provokes a new avalanche”.

South Africa’s decision to ban the sale of alcohol and enforce a curfew continued to cause anguish, even as the country recorded a record-breaking 24-hour death toll of 572 fatalities.

“What the government has put in place has been knee-­capping,” restaurateur Sean Barber said during a protest in Johannesburg. “It’s decimating our industry.”

Brazil, the world’s second hardest-hit country after the US, has registered half of Latin America’s surging caseload, with 2.2 million infections and 82,771 deaths. Its President, Jair Bolsonaro, again tested positive for the virus after first being diagnosed with the disease on July 7.

The country recorded a new daily record of novel coronavirus cases on Wednesday with nearly 68,000 infections.

Peru, Mexico and Chile are also on the list of the top 10 countries by total cases, with well over 300,000 each.

The crisis has left tens of millions unemployed around the world and crippled global commerce, prompting the EU to approve an unprecedented €750bn ($1.2 trillion) aid package for the hardest-hit member countries earlier this week.

India passed the one-million infections milestone last week and is behind only the US and Brazil, but new data on Wednesday suggested a vast underestimate.

A study showed almost a quarter of the population in New Delhi had contracted the virus, equating to roughly five million infections in the capital city. Officials have registered 125,000 cases.

AFP