A summary of the latest updates on the pandemic from around the world.
• The European commission extended until the end of October a waiver of customs duties and sales taxes on imported face masks and other medical gear to address shortages.
• Britain said it will provide £100m pounds ($127m) of funding for a facility to scale up the manufacturing of vaccines against the coronavirus.
• Belgium will tighten coronavirus containment measures on 25 July after a rise in infections.
• Samples of wastewater from the Paris sewage system have been showing traces of the coronavirus since the end of June, the head of the laboratory leading the research said.
Americas
• In the US, the treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, said the White House is interested in getting a trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill out quickly and will not include the payroll tax cut long sought by the US president, Donald Trump.
• China plans to provide a $1bn loan to make its coronavirus vaccine accessible for countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, the Mexican foreign ministry said.
• Brazil and Argentina registered daily records for confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, pushing the total number of cases in Latin America past 4 million.
Asia-pacific
• Hong Kong reported a daily record in new cases on Thursday.
• Japan’s capital has reported 366 new cases, a new daily record fuelling fears of a second round of infections.
• Australia reported its highest daily number of coronavirus-related deaths in three months as new infections continued to climb in its second most populous state.
• India reported a record jump of 45,720 in coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking its total number of cases to 1.24 million, the health ministry said.
Middle East and Africa
• South Africa witnessed about 17,000 extra deaths from natural causes or 59% more than would normally be expected between early May and mid-July, scientists said, suggesting many more people are dying of Covid-19 than shown in official figures.
• Baghdad International Airport reopened for scheduled commercial flights after months of closure, as Iraq’s total number of infections passed 100,000.
• Israeli lawmakers empowered the government to order anti-coronavirus curbs with limited parliamentary oversight.
Economic fallout
• Stock markets rose on Thursday as better-than-expected corporate earnings in Europe offset worries about rising coronavirus cases and an escalation in tensions between the US and China.
• A temporary basic income for the world’s poorest 2.7 billion people in 132 developing countries could slow the spread by allowing them to stay home, a UN Development Programme (UNDP) report said.
• Australia reported its biggest budget deficit since the second world war as the coronavirus crisis knocks the country into its first recession in three decades.
