BEIJING, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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WASHINGTON -- A "small number" of sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier tested positive for the novel coronavirus while underway in the Pacific region, the U.S. Navy announced on Friday.

"A small number of sailors on board the ship tested positive for COVID-19 while underway on Aug 27, 2020," Reann Mommsen, spokesperson for the U.S. 7th Fleet, said in a statement.

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CAIRO -- Egypt registered on Friday 157 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 99,582, the Egyptian Health Ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, 16 patients died from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 5,495.

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QUITO -- The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health announced on Friday that the country registered 815 new cases of COVID-19 and 26 more deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 117,175, with 6,674 deaths.

The province of Pichincha, where the capital of Quito is located, continues to register the highest number of new cases in the country, with a total of 24,705 infections and 947 deaths.

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BEIJING -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Friday responded to a query about the selection of Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as a member of a panel appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review the COVID-19 response.

Zhong is on the name list of the panel which was announced by the co-chair of the panel at a briefing to member states on Thursday.

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UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees on Friday launched a 95-million-U.S.-dollar appeal, hoping to use the money to keep the COVID-19 pandemic at bay.

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked a health and socio-economic emergency across the occupied Palestinian territory, the UN agency for the region warned, noting a swell of coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

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BERLIN -- The Federation of German Industries said Friday it supported shortening the quarantine period for suspected COVID-19 cases in Germany from 14 days to five days.

"The aim must be to allow economic activity at the maximum possible level," said BDI Director General Joachim Lang in a statement.

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GENEVA -- "Initially, when supply of COVID-19 vaccine is limited, priority must be given to vaccinating essential workers and those most at risk, or in other words, vaccinating some people in all countries rather than all people in some countries," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

"In the coming months, we all hope to have good news about a vaccine for COVID-19. But if and when we have an effective vaccine, we must also use it effectively," the WHO chief said at a press briefing.

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ADDIS ABABA -- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday disclosed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent reached 1,275,815.

The Africa CDC, specialized healthcare agency of the African Union Commission, in a statement issued on Friday said that the death toll from the ongoing pandemic also rose to 30,596. The number of COVID-19 recoveries also hit 1,015,865 as of Friday afternoon.

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HARARE -- The COVID-19 pandemic has presented growth opportunities for Zimbabwe's health and Information, Communication Technology (ICT) sectors, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Friday.

He said despite posing development challenges, the pandemic had ushered in opportunities for innovation and self reliance, particularly in the health sector. Enditem

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