The Latest: Venezuela unveils coronavirus facility at arena

By The Associated Press 01 August 2020, 12:00AM

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s president has unveiled hundreds of hospital beds set up inside a sports dome in the capital of Caracas as his government prepares for a possible wave of coronavirus infections.

President Nicolás Maduro went on state TV to show off the converted complex Friday as he urged Venezuelans to stop throwing parties and wash their hands to prevent the virus’ spread.

Inside, the dome’s floor is walled off with beds. Outside, dozens of tents in the parking lot hold even more. A Cuban medical team presented their nation’s flag, saying they are ready.

Venezuelan officials have reported 164 deaths from COVID-19 so far, among more than 18,000 confirmed infections. The official daily count Friday hit an all-time high with 715 new reported illnesses.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— Adm. Giroir: Slow test results in U.S. from high demand across nation

— Dr. Fauci: Thousands sign up for coronavirus trials in U.S.; any crowd without masks is risk for spread

— Peru probes whether more than 27,000 coronavirus deaths uncounted

— Dr. Anthony Fauci tells lawmakers once a coronavirus vaccine is approved as safe and effective, Americans should have widespread access within a reasonable time.

— Americans struggling amid the economic fallout are worrying about paying for food and rent. An extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits to help pay their bills is expiring.

— The game Friday between St. Louis and Milwaukee is postponed after two Cardinals employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Two other games are postponed Friday because of positive tests among players and staff.

___

Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

____

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

CAIRO — The internationally recognized Libyan government based in Tripoli has reinstated a total lockdown for at least five days to curb the growing coronavirus outbreak in the war-torn country.

The tight restrictions imposed Friday dampened the festive spirit of the Eid-al-Adha holiday, when Muslims gather to pray and slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

With Libya’s health system and infrastructure devastated by nine years of conflict, the U.N.-supported government ordered people in western Libya to stay inside unless they have to purchase essentials.

Libya is divided between rival administrations in the west and east. It has reported 3,621 confirmed coronavirus infections and 74 fatalities due to COVID-19, but testing nationwide remains extremely limited.

___

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama state officials say a program to aid families with students who are limited to remote learning this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic will provide $100 million for increased internet service.

Gov. Kay Ivey’s office said Friday that vouchers to help families pay for equipment and high-speed internet service through Dec. 31 will be available for students who receive free or reduced-price meals or meet other income criteria. High-speed internet service is often unavailable across rural Alabama and in some urban areas.

While some students were able to participate in classes online after schools closed in the spring because of the pandemic, many were unable to take part because of the lack of reliable high-speed internet.

___

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president is finally saying he will wear a mask for the coronavirus pandemic — when there’s no more corruption in the country.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador has publicly resisted wearing a protective mask to lower the risk of infection. He said this week that he does so under doctors’ advice, preferring to keep a safe distance.

At his Friday news conference, López Obrador raised the issue in response to reports that opposition members in congress are considering trying to get a court to order him to wear a mask. He said: “I am going to put on a mask. You know when? When there is no corruption.”

Mexico’s leader had not been seen publicly wearing a mask until he flew commercial in July to Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.

___

MIAMI — Hurricane Isaias’ imminent arrival is forcing the closure of some outdoor coronavirus testing sites Friday even as the state reached a new daily high in deaths.

Meanwhile, the virus was complicating efforts to put contingency plans in place for evacuations and shelters if the storm makes them necessary. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Friday an order declaring a state of emergency in eastern coastal counties from the Florida Keys to Jacksonville, but no evacuations had been ordered or shelters opened.

The coming weather forced officials to halt testing in Miami, which has been worst hit by the coronavirus, for at least three days because many of the sites operate outdoors, in tents. Under normal circumstances, the sites have the capacity to test hundreds of people per day.

“We had to put safety first,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said at an online news conference Friday. “We will have thousands of tests that will not be conducted until we get these test sites up and running again.”

Social-distancing measures necessary to stop the virus’s spread were complicating evacuation plans. The shelters must now provide 40 square feet (3.7 square meters) of space for each person, and can’t offer cafeteria-style dining.

___

PROVO, Utah — The Utah County Commission will no longer consider a letter requesting that the county health department ask the governor to grant the county exemptions to the statewide public K-12 school mask mandate after a new state order seemingly addressed all concerns.

The Daily Herald reported that Commissioner Bill Lee pulled the letter after a state order “clarified every single thing” requested.

The order is effective until Dec. 31 and clarifies a number of exemptions. Those exemptions include children under 3, people with medical conditions preventing them from wearing a facial covering, students practicing social distancing and students eating and drinking outdoors.

___

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City School District Board of Education has announced that its schools will start the year with all online-only classes, making it the only district in the state to not offer in person classes, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The board voted 6-1 to approve the decision Thursday in response to an increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city.

Board President Melissa Ford said that schools will start online Sept. 8 under a two-week delay to give teachers, parents and students time to prepare. Any reopening plans are expected to align with either the midway mark or end of a quarter to not disrupt classes and grading.

___

INDIANAPOLIS — Just days after public schools around Indiana reopened their doors, at least one student and one school staff member in districts around Indianapolis have tested positive for the virus.

In the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation, a student tested positive for the virus on the first day back to class. Superintendent Harold Olin told The Associated Press that the student attended school for part of the day Thursday.

People who came into close contact with the student will have to quarantine before returning. At Avon High School, a staff member tested positive. However, the district says that person had not been at school this week.

___

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia set a record for newly confirmed coronavirus cases with 182, the highest since the outbreak began.

Officials reported record highs of COVID-19 hospitalizations, intensive care unit patients and use of ventilators.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice renewed his call for residents to wear masks and urged people to take the virus seriously as it surges within West Virginia and surrounding states. Still, he declined to reimpose additional virus restrictions Friday, but didn’t rule it out if numbers keep rising.

___

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a contact tracing smartphone app is available to notify Canadians of exposure to the coronavirus.

The app use is voluntary and if someone tests positive, other app users who have been in proximity of the person will be alerted.

Some governments have looked into smartphone technology to help battle virus flare-ups while easing lockdown restrictions. But technical problems and privacy concerns have dogged the development of virus tracing apps.

The app has been developed with the help of Canadian technology companies Shopify and BlackBerry.

___

ATHENS, Greece — Greek health authorities are tightening measures against the spread of the coronavirus after 78 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.

Masks will be mandatory through August in all indoors areas – including churches and other places of worship – except for restaurants.

Authorities on Friday strongly recommended the use of masks outdoors where it’s difficult to observe social distancing.

No standing customers will be allowed at bars and nightclubs from Aug. 3-9, a maximum 100 people will be allowed to attend weddings, baptisms and funerals. No visits will be allowed through Aug. 15 to hospitals, retirement homes, refugee camps and homeless centers.

Authorities also extended the ban on air travel to neighboring Turkey, Albania and North Macedonia. Greece has 206 confirmed coronavirus deaths, including three announced Friday.

___

BEIRUT — Lebanon has a record 224 new coronavirus cases and two more deaths, leading authorities to enforce a new nationwide partial lockdown.

The tally Friday brings the overall number of cases to 4,555 and 61 confirmed deaths.

It’s the first time the number of daily recorded infections surpassed 200.

___

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci dismissed a tweet by Donald Trump claiming the U.S. global lead in coronavirus cases is because of increased testing.

Responding to questioning by a House Democrat, Fauci says the scale of the U.S. outbreak is the result of multiple factors, including some states opened too quickly, disregarding federal guidelines. Those recommendations called for a phased approach to easing restrictions on restaurants, bars and gyms based on state case counts.

Trump tweeted as a House oversight committee heard from the nation’s top health officials on the federal response to coronavirus. Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, chaired the committee hearing.

Fauci’s warnings about the scope and dangers of the outbreak have drawn the ire of some of President Trump’s supporters and prompted calls for his firing. But he’s avoided open confrontations with the White House.

___

WASHINGTON — The National Institutes of Health is awarding nearly $250 million to several U.S. companies as part of a government effort to ramp up testing capacity for the coronavirus.

The announcement Friday comes as demand for testing outpaces availability, leading to backlogs at U.S. labs and delays in getting results to many patients.

The NIH grants to seven manufacturers are aimed at helping increase production to provide millions of more tests by the fall.

Three of the companies are developing tests run on portable devices that could be used at doctor’s offices, clinics and testing sites. The other four companies are working to expand testing at diagnostic laboratories, which process more than half of U.S. tests. Those companies include Helix OpCo, of San Mateo, California, which is studying a high-capacity testing system that NIH says could process 50,000 samples per day by September.

Several of the tests are already on the market, including a 15-minute antigen test from San Diego-based Quidel that was cleared by regulators in May.

___

MADRID — Spain has reported 1,525 new daily coronavirus cases Friday, the highest daily number since April 29.

Spain in mid-March went into a more than three-month lockdown as the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths surged across the country. By the end of May, new daily infections had fallen to double digits.

The lockdown ended June 21, but the number of cases has rebounded. Since last Wednesday, cases have exceeded 1,000 a day.

The Aragon region in northeastern Spain recorded the highest confirmed infections, with 511, followed by the Madrid region (372).

___

LONDON — The head of the World Health Organization predicts the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be felt for “decades to come.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the coronavirus as a “once-in-a-century health crisis.” Tedros reconvened WHO’s expert committee on Friday to consider what further recommendations are needed to stem the spread.

“Most of the world’s people remain susceptible to this virus, even in areas that have experienced severe outbreaks,” Tedros says. “Although vaccine development is happening at record speed, we must learn to live with this virus and we must fight it with the tools that we have.”

By The Associated Press 01 August 2020, 12:00AM

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>