BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

GENEVA -- A total of 392,471 new COVID-19 infections were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday, a record high since the onset of the pandemic, taking the total number of confirmed cases worldwide to 39,196,259.

According to a tally kept by the WHO, the United States had the most daily infections on Saturday, with 63,044 new cases reported. As of Saturday, the country has registered 7,896,895 total confirmed cases, the highest worldwide.

- - - -

SANTIAGO -- Chile has performed the highest number of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in Latin America, Health Minister Enrique Paris said on Saturday.

While presenting a report on the country's fight against COVID-19, Paris said that 3,857,820 PCR tests have been carried out so far, averaging out at 196,660 tests per million inhabitants, which is "close to developed countries."

- - - -

WELLINGTON -- New Zealand reported three new cases of COVID-19 including one new community case on Sunday, the Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield provided the update in a press conference.

According to Bloomfield, the new community case is a man working on ships at ports in New Zealand, including in the past two weeks the Ports of Auckland and the Port of Taranaki. The man developed COVID-19 symptoms and was tested on Friday and the result came positive on Saturday afternoon.

- - - -

BEIJING -- The National Health Commission said Sunday that 20 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery on the Chinese mainland Saturday.

There were 252 patients still being treated, including five in severe condition, the commission said in its daily report.

- - - -

UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called on the international community to stand in solidarity with people living in poverty.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is a double crisis for the world's poorest people," the UN chief said in his message to the international day, which falls on Oct. 17 annually.

- - - -

BERLIN -- Germany's COVID-19 cases rose by 5,587 to 361,974 over the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Sunday.

The death toll from the disease went up by 10 to 9,777, the RKI added.

Germany recorded on Saturday 7,830 new infections of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the highest daily spike since the pandemic began.

- - - -

JERUSALEM -- The total number of COVID-19 cases in Israel rose to 302,770 on Saturday after the addition of 874 new cases, marking a fifth consecutive day of decrease in the number of daily new cases, Israel's Ministry of Health said.

The death toll rose to 2,190, with 49 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 714 to 690, out of 1,210 patients currently hospitalized. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)