Masks to be made mandatory in Victoria as Oz cases spike
Melbourne, July 19
Australia’s Covid hot spot Victoria state will enforce a mandatory face cover rule in view of rising new infections.
Victoria reported 363 new cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total cases in the country to 11,802, said Premier Daniel Andrews.
“We are going to be wearing masks in Victoria, and potentially in other parts of the country, for a very long time. There’s no vaccine to this wildly infectious virus, and it’s a simple thing but it’s about changing habits,” Andrews said.
Hong Kong also warned of a resurgence in the virus as it issued tougher new rules on the wearing of face masks. Its leader Carrie Lam said the situation in the Asian financial hub is “really critical” and that she sees “no sign” that it’s under control.
Concerns are rising that the pandemic has found fresh legs over the past few weeks, with Johns Hopkins University and the World Health Organisation both recording daily highs in newly reported infections.
Pope Francis said “the pandemic is showing no sign of stopping” and pointed to those whose suffering from the outbreak is worsened by conflicts.
While the US leads global infections with 1.42 deaths, South Africa is now the fifth worst-hit country in the pandemic with more than 3.5 lakh cases, or around half of all those confirmed on the continent. — Agencies
Iranian officials play down figure
Tehran: Health officials sought on Sunday to play down President Hassan Rouhani’s estimate that 25 million people have Covid, saying it was based on serological blood tests that cannot be relied on to show the current state of disease. reuters
EU meets over recovery fund
Brussels: In Europe, where local outbreaks are causing concern, leaders of the 27-nation European Union haggled for the third day in Brussels over a proposed 1.85 trillion-euro EU budget and Covid recovery fund. reuters
