People spend their Sunday afternoon on the National Mall in Washington D.C., the United States, on June 28, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
- Trump to host July 4th celebrations at Mt. Rushmore amid surge of COVID-19 cases
- EU authorizes remdesivir for COVID-19 treatment
- England eases self-isolation measures for passengers arriving from "lower risk countries"
- 105-year-old man recovers from COVID-19 in Pakistan: local media
- Over 10 million in Beijing receive COVID-19 tests
BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump headed to Mount Rushmore National Memorial on Friday to kick off the July 4th celebrations amid the nationwide surge of new coronavirus cases.
Up to 7,500 people will attend the gathering and watch fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, midwestern state South Dakota, local media estimated.
- - - -
ISLAMABAD -- A 105-year-old man in Pakistan's east Punjab province has been discharged from hospital after successfully defeating COVID-19, local media reported on Friday.
Fazal Rauf, who is also a war veteran and served in Pakistani army, was tested positive of the disease a few weeks ago and had been quarantined in hospital since then, the Express News said.
- - - -
A man wearing a face mask is seen in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, May 4, 2020. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission has authorized anti-viral drug remdesivir for the treatment against coronavirus on Friday, making it the first drug authorized at the European Union level for the treatment of COVID-19.
"Today, the European Commission granted a conditional marketing authorization for the medicine remdesivir," the European Commission said in a press release.
- - - -
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi Health Ministry on Friday confirmed 2,312 new COVID-19 cases, as the total number of infections climbed to 56,020.
The ministry also confirmed 102 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 2,262 in the country.
- - - -
An aid worker (R) assists a woman to sanitize her hands at a food distribution center in Juba, South Sudan, April 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)
JUBA -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday handed over 160 oxygen concentrators to South Sudan in a bid to boost its fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
The 160 oxygen concentrators will be distributed across the country to treat patients requiring oxygen, WHO said in a statement issued on Friday in Juba.
- - - -
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Waste water samples from Florianopolis, the capital and second largest city of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, contained COVID-19 traces on Nov. 27, 2019, a sewage water study showed on Thursday.
"Particles of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, were found in two samples of Florianopolis sewage collected on November 27, 2019," a research group from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil said in a report published on the university's official website.
- - - -
A medical staff member takes a throat swab sample from a man at a newly-adopted mobile testing vehicle in Xicheng District of Beijing, capital of China, June 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
BEIJING -- Nationwide tests of food for COVID-19, launched by China in June, had produced only negative results as of Thursday, a health official said at a press conference on Friday.
Zhang Zhiqiang, from the Chinese National Health Commission, said the tests were launched after the COVID-19 outbreak at Beijing's Xinfadi market in June.
- - - -
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed on Friday evening that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and quarantined himself at home.
The foreign minister announced it at Twitter, saying "this afternoon I felt a slight fever and immediately quarantined myself at home. I have now tested positive for COVID-19."
- - - -
Photo taken on June 8, 2020 shows a plane taking off from Heathrow Airport in London, Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)
LONDON -- Passengers returning from certain destinations, including France, Germany and Belgium, will no longer need to self-isolate when arriving in England, the British Department for Transport announced Friday.
The previously announced coronavirus regulations required passengers to self-isolate for 14 days when they return to Britain from a country outside the common travel area, which covers Britain, the Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Ireland.
- - - -
BEIJING -- More than 10.41 million residents in Beijing had received nucleic acid tests as of Thursday since the resurgence of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases, local authorities said on Friday.
Test results from about 10.06 million people had come back, Zhang Qiang, deputy head of the Organization Department of Beijing Municipal Party Committee, said at a press conference. ■
