Mexico reported 4,771 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 629 additional fatalities on Tuesday, bringing its totals to 676,487 infections and 71,678 deaths, according to updated Health Ministry data.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely to be significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
India passes 5 million coronavirus cases
India’s coronavirus cases have passed 5 million, testing the country’s feeble health care system in tens of thousands of impoverished towns and villages.
The Health Ministry reported 90,123 new cases in the past 24 hours, raising the nation’s confirmed total to 5,020,359, about 0.35% of its nearly 1.4 billion population.
It said 1,290 more people died in the past 24 hours, for a total of 82,066.
India’s total coronavirus caseload is closing in on the United States’ highest tally of more than 6.6 million cases and expected to surpass it within weeks.
Restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in the UK has driven stress, anxiety and depression far above normal levels and may do again in coming months if widespread lockdowns are re-imposed, researchers say.
A major study into the mental health impact of the pandemic found that in the early stages of lockdown 57% of those who took part reported symptoms of anxiety, with 64% recording common signs of depression.
While the mental health problems improved as restrictions eased, scientists warn they may worsen again as infections rise and more aggressive nationwide lockdowns are considered over the autumn and winter:
Australian deputy prime minister Michael McCormack has shifted responsibility for repatriating more than 26,000 stranded Australians back on to the states, demanding that leaders jointly increase their arrival caps by 2,000 a week.
McCormack, whose infrastructure and transport portfolio gives him responsibility for the arrival caps, has written to the states asking them to increase the cap of 4,000 arrivals a week to 6,000:
Moving on from Trump now: more than a thousand student teachers in New Zealand will graduate this year without having completed their classroom practice requirements amid the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand said Covid-19 had forced it to think creatively, because many student teachers had been unable to complete the required number of practical hours due to seven weeks of lockdown; and more in Auckland.
Council chief executive Lesley Hoskin said the impact of the lockdown was “unfair” on student teachers, but she was confident they would be ready for classrooms nonetheless:
Donald Trump falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall Tuesday night, saying, “Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.”
His remarks came in response to an uncommitted voter at the ABC News event, who asked Trump why he would “downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities”. The president said he did not minimize the threat of the virus: “My action was very strong. I’m not looking to be dishonest. I don’t want people to panic.”
Trump’s misleading response comes one week after the investigative journalist, Bob Woodward, revealed that the president explicitly admitted to downplaying the virus in interviews with him. Woodward has reported that, although Trump’s national security adviser gave him a “jarring” warning in January about the virus, calling it the “biggest national security threat” of his presidency, Trump continued to understate the risks in public statements:
Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’
US President Donald Trump has given a town hall in which he said that Covid-19 would go away without a vaccine.
This would happen because of “herd mentality,” he said. It is unclear whether he meant heard immunity, as he repeated the phrase several times.
“It would go away without the vaccine George,” he said speaking to ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos. “With time it goes away. And you’ll develop like a herd mentality. It’s going to be herd developed, and that’s going to happen. That will all happen.”
Stephen Schwartz
(@AtomicAnalyst)The self-proclaimed super genius on display: pic.twitter.com/3ILcsCTYLG
Updated
The government of Taiwan has given a third automatic extension to foreign tourists still inside its borders, “considering the current state of the global pandemic is still grim”.
Taiwan – where it is not grim thanks to their successful pandemic response – this week announced the third 30-day extension to visitors who arrived in Taiwan on or before 21 March this year, and who hadn’t overstayed their 180-day visa.
The National Immigration Agency said the extensions had been granted “ in order to prevent international movement of population leading to further outbreaks, as well as to reduce the burden of epidemic prevention on local neighbourhoods”.
Taiwan, which has a population of around 23.8 million, acted early on reports of the new coronavirus, and has recorded just 499 cases and seven deaths.
