Daily COVID-19 pandemic roundup: June 3
Miami Desk, Jun 3 (efe-epa).- Here’s a roundup of stories around the world related to the novel coronavirus pandemic:
WORLD: The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a total of 6.28 million Covid-19 cases have been detected worldwide and 379,941 people have died from the disease caused by the coronavirus. About 3 million of those cases and more than 165,000 of the fatalities have occurred in the Americas.
SCIENCE: Hydroxychloroquine, a medication used to treat malaria but which US President Donald Trump has touted – and reportedly taken – to treat or ward off Covid-19, does not protect against the disease, according to a study among 821 people published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. To qualify to take part in the study, a participant must have had close and sustained maskless contact within the past few days with a verified Covid-19 patient but could not be showing any symptoms of infection as yet. Although 107 of the participants developed symptoms of the disease, 49 in the group receiving the med and 58 in the group receiving a placebo, the result is not statistically or clinically significant regarding the efficacy of the drug, the study found.
URUGUAY: The 36 crewmembers of the Australian cruise ship Greg Mortimer who were infected with Covid-19 and quarantined in a Montevideo hotel were released on Wednesday after testing negative for the disease. The vessel had been anchored off the Uruguayan coast for almost two months, with almost 90 crewmembers being evacuated and quarantined in Uruguay, but it set sail with a skeleton crew on May 23 for Spain, which was its original destination.
ECUADOR: Ecuador on Wednesday reported that 40,966 confirmed coronavirus cases have been detected so far, with the official Covid-19 death toll standing at 3,486 people, along with another 2,221 fatalities that “probably” occurred due to the disease.
ECUADOR: On Wednesday, Quito officially began the process of easing restrictions implemented to limit the spread of the coronavirus, 77 days after the quarantine was imposed. A total of 3,842 people have been infected with the virus while 305 have died in the Ecuadorian capital.
MEXICO: A total of 321 Mexicans working on cruise vessels belonging to Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd have been returned to Mexico from Barbados on two private charter flights contracted by the firm, the Mexican Foreign Relations Secretariat reported Wednesday. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard reported that 14,285 Mexicans who had been stranded abroad after coronavirus travel restrictions were imposed around the world have been able to return to their homeland, while 2,627 still have not been repatriated.
PERU: Peruvians are standing in long lines desperately seeking to purchase oxygen canisters, an essential item for people sick with Covid-19, the sometimes deadly pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. One tank containing 10 cubic meters of pressurized oxygen costs an exorbitant $1,779 and recharging a tank costs $15 per cubic meter.
PERU: At least 20 journalists have died and more than 100 have fallen ill with Covid-19 so far in Peru, one of the world’s top-10 nations for numbers of infections. Nationwide, 178,914 people have been infected with Covid-19 and 4,894 have died.
CHILE: Three months after the coronavirus pandemic hit Chile, the country’s health care system is on the verge of collapse and the peaks of the infection and fatality curves are not yet in sight, amid heavy criticism about people failing to abide by the government-imposed quarantine in Santiago. Chile’s virus infection caseload currently stands at 113,000, with the death toll at 1,275.
NICARAGUA: The European Union announced Wednesday that it will provide 1.9 million euros ($2.1 million) to help poor families in Nicaragua deal with the coronavirus pandemic over the next 18 months. The project will benefit 22,307 people directly and 89,228 indirectly, authorities said.
EFE
