Delhi expects 550,000 virus cases by July end

Resmi Sivaram / Agencies

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal underwent a COVID-19 test on Tuesday, two days after he went into a self-quarantine with fever and throat infection. Lt Governor Anil Baijal called a meeting of top officials on Tuesday, after which Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia quoted Central government officials as confirming that there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in the national capital, as of now.

At the same time, he said the city could have up to 550,000 COVID-19 patients by July 31.

“By then we would need 80,000 beds,” Sisodia said. He said the government had decided to reserve Delhi hospitals for residents in view of the mounting cases, but Baijal had shot the decision.

COVID-19 infections in the country, meanwhile, shot up by 9,987 to hit 2,66,598 as of Tuesday morning. There are 1,29,917 active cases, while the death toll stands at 7,466.

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) announced on Tuesday that it conducted over 37,000 additional COVID-19 tests and detected 528 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of cases in the UAE to 39,904.

MoHAP also announced two deaths as a result of COVID-19 complications. The total number of deaths in the country has reached 283, it added.

Ministry also noted an additional 465 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 22,740.

The UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) has denied the reports circulating on social media platforms saying that students have to attend classes from Aug.30 when the schools reopen.

“MoE denies what’s being circulated that the next school year, starting 30 Aug, will have school students attending on campus,” ministry tweeted.

“No decision has yet been taken on the matter and the nature of the learning process will be decided according to health developments & precautions,” the ministry tweet said further.

Pakistan recorded more than 100 deaths in a single day from COVID-19 for the first time since keeping statistics in mid-March, when the country first imposed a lock down that has never been total.

As of Tuesday, Pakistan recorded 108,316 coronavirus infections, with 4,646 new cases and a death toll that has climbed to 2,172 amid warnings from Prime Minister Imran Khan that Pakistan is not likely to see a peak in infections before August.

New Zealanders hugged and kissed, shopped, and planned parties on Tuesday as the country took off all coronavirus restrictions for the first time in more than three months, while much of the rest of the world is still grappling with the pandemic.

The South Pacific nation of 5 million declared on Monday that it was free of the coronavirus, becoming one of the first countries in the world to return to pre-pandemic normality.

The United Kingdom’s death toll from confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose by 286 to 40,883 on Monday, according to government data released on Tuesday.

Britain’s government on Tuesday admitted defeat in its efforts to have all primary school children back for a month before the summer holiday following lockdown.

Staff shortages and strict new safety protocols including smaller classrooms made it impossible to deliver the plan, with schools already full to capacity under the new system.

Wearing face masks will be compulsory in Spain until the coronavirus epidemic is defeated once and for all, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Tuesday.

He said the measure would remain in force after the state of emergency ends on June 21 and will “remain in place until we permanently defeat the virus, which is when we have an effective treatment or vaccine against it”.

Moscow emerged from a strict coronavirus lockdown on Tuesday despite Russia seeing thousands of new cases every day, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned the pandemic was “worsening” worldwide.

Russia reported 8,595 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the number of infections nationwide to 485,253, reported Reuters.

The authorities said that 171 people had died from the virus in the last 24 hours, pushing the total death toll to 6,142.