Brazil’s coronavirus death toll exceeds 70,000: Live updates | Coronavirus pandemic News

• • The World Health Organization (WHO) reported a record daily increase in global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 228,102 in 24 hours.

     

 

• • Iraqi legislator Ghida Kambash died after contracting the novel coronavirus, becoming the first member of Iraq’s parliament to succumb to the virus as its spreads across the country.

     

 

• • More than 12.5 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, and more than 559,000 have died, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University. More than 6.8 million patients have recovered.

     

 

Here are the latest updates.

Saturday, July 11

00:37 GMT – US welcomes WHO inquiry into virus origins in China

Andrew Bromberg, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington welcomed the WHO’s probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus in China.

“We view the scientific investigation as a necessary step to having a complete and transparent understanding of how this virus has spread throughout the world,” he told reporters.

The United States, the WHO’s largest donor, this week notified the agency that it was withdrawing in a year’s time after accusing it of being too close to China and not doing enough to question Beijing’s actions at the start of the crisis.

00:20 GMT – Brazil’s death toll surpasses 70,000

Brazil exceeded 70,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday, the health ministry said, though the number of daily fatalities appears to be stabilizing.

The ministry said there had been 45,000 new infections and 1,200 deaths over the last 24 hours, taking the totals to 1.8 million cases and 70,400 deaths.

Brazil is the second worst affected country in the world after the United States.

00:02 GMT – California to release 8,000 prisoners to slow pandemic

The US state of California will release up to 8,000 inmates early from state prisons to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside facilities, state authorities said.

Prisoners with a year or less left to serve will be eligible for release. Among prisoners excluded from early release are those convicted of violent felonies and sex crimes, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday nearly 2,400 people in California’s 35 prisons have tested positive for the coronavirus, including 1,314 at San Quentin State Prison north of San Francisco.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives.

You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 10, here.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies