Live COVID-19 updates: France's economy to accelerate growth, government preparing for virus resurgence
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E-mail Xinhua, July 8, 2020
BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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PARIS -- France was preparing for eventual resurgence of coronavirus epidemic and targeted lockdown would be imposed to keep on with economic and social activities, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Wednesday.
"The virus is still here," Castex told local broadcaster BFMTV. "It was time to prepare for a second wave of the epidemic... It is the role of the State to prepare, to anticipate."
"But we would not proceed to a general lockdown like in March, as that has terrible economic and human consequences. Any new lockdown would be targeted," he added.
As of Wednesday, France had registered 29,861 deaths caused by the coronavirus and 165,719 confirmed positive cases.
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PARIS -- Thanks to a gradual return to normalcy after months of anti-coronavirus lockdown, the French economy would accelerate its growth in the second half of the year after a severe contraction in previous quarters, national statistics institute INSEE forecast on Wednesday.
In its economic outlook, INSEE forecast French economy to rebound by 19 percent in the third quarter and ease to 3 percent in the last three months of the year.
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YEREVAN -- Armenia on Wednesday reported 535 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 29,820, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
Deputy Defense Minister Gabriel Balayan is among the new confirmed cases.
Data from the NCDC showed that 520 more patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 17,427. Meanwhile, 18 people died in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 521.
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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday with the national tally of cases standing at 141.
It marked the 62nd consecutive day without new cases since May 7.
There have been three deaths resulted from COVID-19 in Brunei and a total of 138 patients have recovered.
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BEIJING -- Official withdrawal by the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) is a move that damages the global fight against COVID-19, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.
Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing when asked to comment on a report, which said the United States on Tuesday formally submitted its notification of withdrawal from the WHO to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"This move has once again revealed the U.S. side's pursuit of unilateralism as a habitual quitter," said Zhao.
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TASHKENT -- Uzbekistan will introduce a second lockdown from July 10 to Aug. 1 in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the country's coronavirus commission said Wednesday.
The decision was made amid an increasing daily caseload of COVID-19 infections, the commission said, adding all markets other than food markets, cafes and restaurants, as well as parks and educational centers, will be closed when the lockdown comes into effect.
So far, Uzbekistan has registered 10,838 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 41 deaths and 6,811 recoveries.
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BEIJING -- China plans to support international cooperation research projects on drugs, vaccines, test kits and traditional Chinese medicine to fight COVID-19.
The Ministry of Science and Technology released an application guide Monday to solicit at most 37 international anti-COVID-19 cooperation projects focusing on the four orientations. The aim is to strengthen research cooperation with virus-ravaged countries and related international organizations via innovative cooperation in international science and technology, to share research data and experience in combating the pandemic.
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CANBERRA -- Australia's tourism industry lost about 5.8 billion Australian dollars (4.02 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Tourism Research Australia on Wednesday released the International and National Visitor Survey results for the first quarter of 2020, revealing that spending by international tourists was down 3.9 billion Australian dollars (2.7 billion U.S. dollars), or 27 percent, compared to the same period in 2019.
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MADRID -- The use of protective face masks will be made obligatory in all public settings, both indoors and outdoors, from Thursday in the Spanish region of Catalonia.
Regional leader Quim Torra made the announcement Wednesday as the region struggles to control a local spike in COVID-19 infections in the Segria area, west of Barcelona.
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SHANGHAI -- China's eastern metropolis Shanghai will offer subsidies of nearly 18 million yuan (about 2.6 million U.S. dollars) to cinemas that have been shuttered amid the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Shanghai Municipal Film Administration on Wednesday released a list of 345 cinemas that will receive the subsidies, ranging from large cineplexes to small start-up cinemas.
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KIEV -- A total of 50,414 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 1,306 deaths have been registered in Ukraine as of Wednesday, while 23,119 patients have recovered, according to the country's health ministry.
The number of COVID-19 patients has declined in Ukraine following a rapid growth in cases last week. On June 17, the Ukrainian government extended its quarantine restrictions until July 31, which have been in place since May 22. Enditem
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