A woman wearing a face mask walks on a street in Lima, Peru, on March 6, 2020. (Xinhua/Renato Pajuelo/ANDINA)
-Peru: A partial return to stay-at-home measures announced after a new spike in novel coronavirus infections was detected.
-Egypt: 129 new COVID-19 infections confirmed, bringing the total cases to 95,963.
-US: Democratic leaders lash out at the Trump administration for refusing to budge on their position on the size and scope of the next COVID-19 relief package.
BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
LIMA -- Peru's President Martin Vizcarra on Wednesday announced a partial return to stay-at-home measures after health authorities detected a new spike in novel coronavirus infections.
"As of this Sunday, we are going to go back to mandatory staying at home on Sundays. We want and think it is preferable to go back one step, just Sundays, to … later recover the conditions that we all would like to have," said Vizcarra.
- - - -
SAO PAULO -- The governor of Brazil's southeast state of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, on Wednesday said he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
"I received my sixth COVID-19 test and this one was unfortunately positive," Doria said in a brief statement, adding he was "absolutely asymptomatic. I feel fine and will follow the medical protocol at home."
- - - -
People line up to cast their ballots at a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, on Aug. 12, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
CAIRO -- Egypt confirmed on Wednesday 129 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total cases registered in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic to 95,963, said the Egyptian Health Ministry.
It is the 11th consecutive day for Egypt's COVID-19 daily infections to fall below 200, after they started to surpass 200 on April 23.
- - - -
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Democratic leaders on Wednesday lashed out at the Trump administration for refusing to budge on their position on the size and scope of the next COVID-19 relief package, as the two sides remain deadlocked over the issue.
"Democrats have compromised. Repeatedly, we have made clear to the Administration that we are willing to come down $1 trillion if they will come up $1 trillion," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement.
- - - -
An Israeli medical staff member works in the coronavirus department at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv on July 29, 2020. (Photo by Gil Cohen Magen/Xinhua)
JERUSALEM -- Israel's Ministry of Health reported 17 new coronavirus death cases on Wednesday, bringing the death toll from the virus to 639.
This is the highest daily rise of deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in Israel in late February, as the previous record was 15, registered on Aug. 4.
- - - -
ANKARA -- Turkey will resume academic year in distance learning programs and start face-to-face schooling gradually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Turkish minister of education announced on Wednesday.
"Distance education will begin on Aug. 31. We decided to start face-to-face education in classrooms recommended by the Scientific Committee on Sept. 21. The committee will decide which age group will return to school and when," Education Minister Ziya Selcuk said at a press conference.
- - - -
ROME -- Italy will carry out COVID-19 tests on people returning from Greece, Spain, Malta, and Croatia, said Italian officials on Wednesday.
The decision was announced late in the day after an emergency meeting between Italy's ministers of Health and of Regional Affairs and the governors of the country's 20 regions.
- - - -
A man wearing a face mask walks in a street in Rome, Italy, Aug. 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)
ABUJA -- Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama on Wednesday confirmed he has recovered from COVID-19 after three weeks of isolation.
Onyeama, who tested positive for the novel coronavirus on July 19, said in a tweet that the latest test carried out on him turned out negative.
- - - -
UNITED NATIONS -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called for efforts to build and sustain peace amid COVID-19 through a people-centered approach.
"Experience of many countries shows that as long as we put people and life first, we can develop a set of effective methods to fight the pandemic. In peacebuilding, we should also put people's interests front and center, respect the ownership of people of the host countries, and promote an inclusive peace process," said Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations. ■
