Mexico has recorded its largest single-day increases in both newly confirmed cases and reported deaths from novel coronavirus since the outbreak began.
Mexican health officials reported on Tuesday an additional 3,455 cases, bringing the total to 74,560.
Officials also recorded an additional 501 deaths, bringing the total reported death toll to 8,134. It is the first time Mexico has reported more than 500 deaths in one day.
The new records come as Mexico’s government is moving ahead with plans for a slow, phased re-opening of certain parts of its economy in locations less affected by the virus.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Peru rose to at least 129,751 on Tuesday — a jump of 5,772 from the previous day, according to the country’s health ministry.
The country also added at least 159 new coronavirus-related deaths, raising the national death toll to 3,788, the ministry said in a statement.
Peru has the second-highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Latin America, behind Brazil.
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced Friday that a national state of emergency, which includes mandatory social isolation measures, will be extended through June 30.
Brazil’s daily coronavirus deaths were higher than fatalities in the United States over the last two days.
The Brazilian health ministry said Tuesday that the country reported at least 1,039 deaths over the last 24 hours. At least 683 people died in the US during the same time period, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases.
Brazil reported at least 807 coronavirus deaths on Monday. The US had 498 deaths during the same period.
As of Tuesday night, at least 24,512 people have died in Brazil.
The Brazilian health ministry on Tuesday said there were at least 16,324 new cases of novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total of cases to at least 391,222.
The German government and its sixteen federal states agreed to extend social distancing restrictions to June 29, the government announced in a statement on Tuesday.
A limit of 10 people, or two households, will be allowed to meet in public places.
The statement added that “this decision is based on the assessment that the number of SARS CoV2 new infections in Germany is at a low level a month after the start of easing the measures.“
Germany’s success is largely based on its citizens adhering to social distancing guidelines and hygiene rules.
The numbers: Germany reported on Monday that the number of active coronavirus cases fell to 9,113, with the total number of confirmed cases reaching 178,570.
Brazil inaugurated what it calls the nation’s first hospital wing dedicated specifically to treat indigenous people infected by coronavirus.
The “indigenous wing” built at a hospital in Manaus — one of the worst-hit cities by the coronavirus pandemic in Brazil — was designed by both indigenous leaders, and local and federal government agencies, Robson Santos da Silva of the Special Secretariat of Indigenous Health (SESAI) said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The wing is designed to replicate the indigenous daily life, with hammocks and special accommodations for tribal leaders, da Silva said.
Activists have long been demanding a field hospital in Brazil dedicated to the indigenous population, a group they claim are often more vulnerable to diseases because of pre-existing conditions or isolation from much of the outside world.
Activists also argue that the indigenous people are often treated as second class citizens in the country.
While responding to reporters’ claims that there were some disparities between the number of coronavirus cases and deaths among tribal groups provided by the central government and indigenous advocacy groups, da Silva said, “We have to talk about how many people have been cured as well. There were 40 deaths but 300 cured, let’s be positive.”
The advocacy group Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) — which tracks the number of cases and deaths among the country’s 900,000 indigenous people — released their own numbers on their official Facebook page on Tuesday, reporting 143 indigenous people have so far died as a result of Covid-19 and more than 1,200 have been infected.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday spoke with the UN Secretary-General and with the head of the World Health Organization to discuss efforts on defeating coronavirus, Downing Street said.
In a statement sent to CNN, Johnson spoke separately to António Guterres and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to set out the UK’s support for international efforts on defeating coronavirus and for the work of the UN and WHO in helping to coordinate the global response.
“The Prime Minister and Dr Tedros agreed on the importance of an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus outbreak, so we can learn lessons to prevent future pandemics,” the statement said.
“The Prime Minister also confirmed he will participate via video message in the UN’s upcoming Financing For Development in the Era of COVID-19 event to map out an equitable, green recovery from this crisis.
The statement added Tedros and Guterres reiterated their support for the UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit on June 4.
Chile’s Minister of Energy Juan Carlos Jobet and Public Works Minister Alfredo Moreno tested positive for novel coronavirus, according to official statements published Monday.
Both ministers went into a preventive quarantine at the end of last week after showing mild symptoms of the virus, according to the statements.
“Minister Jobet has not had any direct contact with President Sebastian Piñera or with other members of the cabinet in the last days,” the statement from the Ministry of Energy said.
The Ministry of Public Works said, “It’s important to highlight that Minister Alfredo Moreno has not had any close contact in the last days with president Sebastian Piñera or any other member of the cabinet.”
The numbers: Chile reported 3,964 new cases of novel coronavirus and 45 new deaths on Tuesday, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 77,961 and 806 deaths, the Ministry of Health reported during a daily briefing.
As of Tuesday, Chile had one of the highest infection rates in Latin America after Brazil and Peru.
Spain reported Tuesday a one-day increase of 194 new diagnosed coronavirus infections from the previous day.
Remember: Spain’s Health Ministry instituted a new country-wide system for reporting and tracking coronavirus cases two weeks ago, resulting in a sharp recalculation of infections and deaths. The total figure for cumulative infections confirmed by PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests since the start of the pandemic now stands at more than 236,000, according to the ministry’s data.
What changed: Under the new system, health authorities in Spain say infections are now calculated on the day they are diagnosed — not the day they are reported, which has resulted in this week’s fluctuating numbers. Some Spanish media have been wryly calling this “the data dance”.
In one example of the new reporting, an additional 35 new deaths have been added to the figures published Tuesday, however, these deaths occurred over the past week, according to the country’s health ministry.
Spain’s latest death toll figure of at least 27,117 is lower than what was previously reported by the by the Health Ministry. This is because the ministry recalculated the overall figure Monday and nearly 2,000 deaths were suddenly removed from the tally.
A top Spanish health official, Dr. Fernando Simón said on Monday that the withdrawn cases from the total were not confirmed Covid-19 deaths and therefore did not meet the Health Ministry’s updated criteria to be included in the total count.
Simón added that the purpose of the revised tally “is to evaluate the pace of the epidemic in the past seven days,” so that medical personnel across the country can have more current data in real time.
The Health Ministry website says the discrepancy between previously reported numbers and those being reported now could persist for several days, as a consequence of a “new strategy of diagnosis, monitoring and control of the transition phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The number of coronavirus cases in France��has continued to stabilize while the number of hospitalizations dropped by at least 534 cases, for a total of at least 16,264 on Tuesday, according to French health officials.
The French Ministry of Health says there has been a small increase in the number of deaths, with 73 reported in the last 24 hours, but this number remains on the decline overall. The total number of reported deaths in France is at least 28,530, the ministry said.
The number of patients in the ICU is also declining, with at least 1,555 patients in intensive care, officials said.
