TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida broke the 600,000 mark for confirmed coronavirus cases Sunday but reported one of its lowest daily totals in two months, continuing a downward trend that began five weeks ago.
Florida reported 2,974 new cases on Sunday, only the second time since June 22 that fewer than 3,000 new cases have been tallied in a day. The other time was Monday, when 2,678 cases were reported. Sundays and Mondays often have a low number of reports as not all hospitals report on the weekend.
The daily total peaked July 15 when more than 15,000 cases were reported, but has been declining since.
Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have also been declining. Late Sunday morning, 4,578 patients were being treated for the disease in Florida hospitals compared to Saturdays 4,773. It is a drop of almost 800 since Thursday. Hospitalizations peaked at above 9,500 on July 23.
Overall, the state has now reported 600,571 confirmed cases.
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HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
Indias virus caseload tops 3 million as disease moves south
As more colleges stay online, students demand tuition cuts
Miami ICU nurse: I have never in my life seen so many deaths
Indias use of cheaper, faster but less accurate tests for the coronavirus highlights some of the inherent pitfalls of a strategy that the U.S. is now considering to scale up testing.
Germany held a pop concert Saturday to see how those attending could spread coronavirus if they had it. Researchers studying COVID-19 packed part of a Leipzig arena with volunteers, collecting data in a real life simulation of a pop concert but one with strict health and safety controls.
Several dozen aging U.S. veterans will gather on a ship in Pearl Harbor next month to mark the 75th anniversary of Japans surrender, even if it means the vulnerable group may be risking their lives again amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
ROME The day-to-day number of new coronavirus cases in Italy climbed for a seventh straight day, when 1,210 confirmed infections were registered on Sunday, the highest daily increase since May 12.
With airports testing many arriving travelers, two regions with busy airports Lombardy, which includes Milan, and Lazio which includes Rome led the days new caseload numbers, according to Health Ministry figures.
Lombardy, where some 40% of the nations known cases have occurred in the pandemic, registered 239 new infections since Saturday, while Lazio counted 184.
Italy has tallied 259,345 COVID-19 infections, including 35,437 deaths.
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LONDON The EUs trade commissioner is coming under intense pressure to step down after attending a golf event despite a ban on public gatherings during the pandemic.
The job of Phil Hogan, an Irishman who is expected to play a key role in trade talks with the U.K., is under threat amid a growing crisis stemming from a golf society dinner in the west of Ireland that was attended by more than 80 people. A surge in coronavirus cases recently prompted Ireland to reimpose restrictions on public gatherings that were eased in early summer.
The agriculture minister and deputy speaker of the Senate resigned last week after confirming they were at the event.
Hogan offered a fulsome and profound apology over the incident.
The deputy head of government, Leo Varadkar, said he shared the publics anger at the golf event, but said the apology helps. He told RTE that Hogan may not have been as familiar with the coronavirus situation in Ireland because he was not based in the country.
Varadkar said that he also needs to account for himself and explain and answer any questions that might arise, not just in relation to the dinner but also his movements around the country.
If he cannot do that, he needs to consider his position, he said.
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LONDON Britains top medical officers say children are more likely to be harmed by staying away from school than from being exposed to the coronavirus.
Englands chief medical officer on Sunday joined his counterparts in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in saying that children are less likely to contract the virus than adults and have an exceptionally low risk of dying from COVID-19.
By contrast, they said studies show that not going to school limits childrens ability to succeed in life and may worsen physical and mental health problems.
Very few, if any, children or teenagers will come to long-term harm from COVID-19 due solely to attending school, they said in a statement. This has to be set against a certainty of long-term harm to many children and young people from not attending school.
The statement comes as parents and teachers express concern about reopening schools next month amid fears that social distancing measures wont keep children safe.
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ISLAMABAD Pakistani authorities on Sunday reported only four new COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the fewest deaths since March.
The announcement raises hopes that Pakistan is on the right path to fully containing the coronavirus despite having a fragile health system.
The National Command and Control Center also reported 591 new cases, increasing the countrys caseload to 275,836, including 6,275 deaths.
Pakistan witnessed a sudden spike in infections and deaths in June, but confirmed cases and fatalities have gradually declined since then. The latest development comes days after Pakistans drug regulatory agency approved final-phase testing of a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine.
Pakistan hopes it will get the vaccine on priority from neighboring China if its clinical trials show success.
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ROME Sicilys governor is ordering all migrants who reach the island by sea be transferred from the Mediterranean island as part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The ordinance, signed by Gov. Nello Musumeci, went into effect Sunday and stipulates that all centers housing migrants awaiting processing of asylum applications be shut down by the end of Monday.
His order, effective through Sept. 10, also forbids any boat, including charity vessels, to bring migrants to the island.
While in past years the great majority of migrants reaching Italy were rescued at sea by humanitarian groups, cargo ships or military vessels, this year, nearly 80% of arrivals reached Italian shores autonomously, most setting sail from Tunisia instead of Libya, where human traffickers are based.
Many come ashore on tiny Lampedusa island, but its migrant center is dangerously overcrowded. So Italy has taken to quarantining the latest arrivals aboard chartered ferries offshore Sicily. On Saturday, one-third of Sicilys 48 one-day total of new confirmed coronavirus infections occurred in migrants.
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MOSCOW Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister and a key figure in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, has contracted COVID-19.
Her spokeswoman Marina Soroka said in a Sunday post on Facebook that Tymoshenko is in serious condition with a fever of 39 C (102 F), but did not specify if she has been hospitalized.
Tymoshenko captured attention worldwide for her speeches to huge crowds of protesters in the 2004 demonstrations that forced the rerun of a disputed presidential election.
After Viktor Yushchenko won the election rerun, Tymoshenko became prime minister, but was dismissed amid quarrels and then returned to the office. Under subsequent President Viktor Yanukovych, she was imprisoned for three years on a conviction of abuse of power.
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BEIJING China on Sunday reported 12 new confirmed coronavirus cases and no additional deaths.
The National Health Commission said 422 patients were being treated, including 16 in critical condition.
The death toll in China, where the outbreak began in December, stands at 4,634.
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SEOUL, South Korea South Korea has added 397 new coronavirus cases, counting its tenth straight day of triple-digit increases as the speed of viral spread nears the levels the country saw during the worst of its outbreak in spring.
The resurgence, which began in the densely populated capital area before spreading to practically every major city and provincial town over the past week, is a major setback for the country that had been eager to tout its hard-won gains against the virus.
After avoiding stringent social distancing measures because of concerns over a fragile economy, officials have now banned large gatherings, closed nightspots, beaches and churches and removed fans from professional sports in a desperate effort to stem transmissions.
Sundays daily jump in infections marked the third-consecutive day of over 300 and the highest since the 483 cases reported on March 7, when the country was dealing with a spike of transmissions in its southeastern region.
The KCDC linked 297 of the new cases to the Seoul metropolitan area, home to half of the countrys 51 million population, where health workers have struggled to track infections tied to various sources, including churches, schools, restaurants and workplaces.
Cases were also reported in other major cities such as Busan. Gwangju, Daejeon and Daegu, the epicenter of the countrys previous major outbreak in late February and March.
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