(Reuters) – Global COVID-19 cases topped 24 million, as per a Reuters tally, with India reporting a record daily jump of more than 75,000 infections, even as the United States continues to report its biggest caseload.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
* For a U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.
* Eikon users, see MacroVitals (cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098) for a case tracker and summary of news.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* South Korea was investigating a new outbreak among roughly 28 people in an apartment block in Seoul, as it reported the biggest daily rise in infections since March.
* A Chinese government offer to test all Hong Kong residents is meeting scepticism from the city’s medical community and public.
* Four members of a dwindling tribe in India’s far off Andaman Islands have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said.
EUROPE
* The French prime minister said the government must move fast to head off a deadly new wave, while a presentation by the health minister suggested new vaccines could be available from the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.
* Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s cabinet chief has been quarantined until he tests negative for the coronavirus, after attending a private event last Saturday where a participant tested positive.
* Finns should not be lulled into thinking their economy will not be damaged by the coronavirus crisis, Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn said.
* Poland will shorten its quarantine period for those suspected of being infected with coronavirus to 10 days from 14 days, the health minister said.
* Germany may extend a ban on major events until at least the end of the year, a draft document showed.
AMERICAS
* Republicans in the U.S. Congress are working on a narrow coronavirus stimulus bill that could be circulated to rank-and-file lawmakers as soon as this week, according to a CNBC report.
* China said the end to a partnership on a vaccine between Chinese firm CanSino Biologics and Canada is unrelated to diplomatic relations between the countries.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Gaza will remain in lockdown at least until Sunday, health officials said, after reporting two deaths and 26 COVID-19 cases in the first public outbreak of the disease in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.
* Doctors employed by Kenya’s Nairobi County government resumed work following a six-day strike over delayed salaries and a lack of protective equipment when handling patients who may have COVID-19, a union official said.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* Clinical diagnostics company Novacyt launched a test to differentiate between COVID-19 and common winter diseases.
* Abbott Laboratories said it won U.S. marketing authorization for a coronavirus portable antigen test that can deliver results within 15 minutes and will sell for $5.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Switzerland’s economy shrank by 8.2% in the second quarter compared with the first three months of the year, as the pandemic triggered the worst quarterly downturn in 40 years.
* Japan’s government upgraded its view on exports and output in August for the second straight month as global demand slowly improves, but authorities cautioned conditions were still severe.
* Mexico’s economy in the second quarter contracted the most since the Great Depression, despite a partial recovery in June.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland, Linda Pasquini, Uttaresh.V and Vinay Dwivedi; Edited by Hugh Lawson, Tomasz Janowski and Shounak Dasgupta)
