WHO FEARS LONGER PANDEMIC WITH INFECTION RISE

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to be "lengthy", the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday as countries from France to Mexico reported a rise in cases, according to a Euronews report.

The WHO said it "highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic" in a statement after its emergency committee met on Friday to evaluate the crisis six months after it rang the global alarm on January 30.

The group also warned of the risk of "response fatigue" given the socio-economic pressures on countries.

"WHO continues to assess the global risk level of COVID-19 to be very high," said its latest statement.

"The committee highlighted the anticipated lengthy duration of this COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of sustained community, national, regional, and global response efforts.

France and Poland were among a number of countries to report a surge in coronavirus cases.

For a third day in a row, Poland reported its highest number of new cases on Saturday, with 658 new infections. Poland has now reported a total of 46,346 coronavirus cases and 1,721 deaths.

FRANCE

France on Friday confirmed 1,346 new coronavirus cases in the previous 24 hours. It's the third day in a row where cases have topped 1,300.

Meanwhile, from Saturday, travellers entering France from 16 countries where the coronavirus is circulating widely now must undergo virus tests upon arrival at French airports and ports.

French prime minister Jean Castex announced last month that the tests would be required as of 1 August for passengers France is allowing in from a list of approved countries, unless they present proof of a negative test done within 72 hours of their departure.

Those who test positive in France must quarantine for 14 days.

MEXICO

Mexico now has the third highest death toll from coronavirus in the world, after it reported 688 new deaths, overtaking the UK’s count.

On Friday Mexican health authorities reported a new national record for COVID-19 infections, with 8,458 new cases recorded in 24 hours

This brings to 424,637 the total number of infections recorded since the virus appeared in the country.

Only Brazil (92,475) and the United States (153,314) currently have a bigger death toll from the virus, according to a Johns Hopkins University toll.

The surge of cases and deaths in Mexico comes amid similar surges in other parts of the world.

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa on Saturday surpassed 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, representing more than 50% of all reported coronavirus infections in Africa’s 54 countries.

INDIA

India recorded the steepest spike of 57,118 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking its coronavirus caseload close to 1.7 million, with July alone accounting for nearly 1.1 million infections.

The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 764 additional deaths for a total of 36,511.

India’s Civil Aviation Ministry delayed resumption of international flights by another month until Aug. 31. But it will continue to allow several international carriers from the United States, Europe and the Middle East to operate special flights to evacuate stranded nationals.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said Friday that India achieved more than 1 million recoveries with active cases only one-third of the total. India is now conducting more than 640,000 tests in 24 hours, taking cumulative tests across the country to nearly 1.9 million, he said.

Lockdown remains in places across all containment zones, while subways, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, bars, theaters, auditoriums and other social gathering places will remain closed till Aug. 31.

JAPAN

A state of emergency has been declared for the Japanese tourist region of Okinawa following an "explosive spread" of the coronavirus, according to the authorities, and the population is being asked to confine themselves for two weeks.

"We are witnessing an explosive spread of infection. We are declaring a state of emergency" until 15 August, the region's governor, Denny Tamaki, told reporters on Friday, adding that hospitals were overwhelmed by this outbreak of contamination.

The leader urged residents to avoid non-essential exits.The measures taken in Japan are not as restrictive as those in Europe, but are nevertheless widely respected by the population.

Most of the coronavirus cases detected in this southern island of the archipelago have been detected in American military bases.