BEIJING, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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CAPE TOWN -- South Africa on Thursday reported 1,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the highest daily record since the country recorded its first case in early March.
With the newly-added cases, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa stood at 19,137, the highest on the African continent.
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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday with the national tally of cases standing at 141.
It marked the fourteenth consecutive day in the sultanate without new cases since May 7.
According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, all 2,679 individuals of COVID-19 close contact have completed their quarantine on Thursday.
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WASHINGTON -- If the United States had begun imposing social-distancing measures one week earlier in March, about 36,000 fewer people would have died in the COVID-19 pandemic, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing new estimates from Columbia University.
The disease modelers also estimated that if the country had begun locking down cities and limiting social contact on March 1, two weeks earlier than the time when most Americans started staying home, about 83 percent of the nation's deaths would have been avoided.
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LONDON -- Another 338 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 36,042, the Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
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NICOSIA -- Cyprus took yet another step back to pre-coronavirus pandemic normality with the lifting of all restrictions on movement, the reopening of most schools and the resumption of restaurants and other recreation spots services, officials announced Thursday.
As of 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT), people drove to their jobs or to the shops without having to request prior permission. Police said they kept up their checks to the last moment, booking about 30 people for being out on the streets before the expiry of a night curfew.
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TEHRAN -- Iran on Thursday registered 66 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 7,249, according to the state TV.
During an online press conference, Kianush Jahanpur, head of Public Relations and Information Center of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, confirmed 2,392 new infection cases, taking the total cases to 129,341.
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BEIJING -- The China Association for Science and Technology has called on the country's sci-tech journal publishers to contribute to the COVID-19 database of the World Health Organization (WHO), sharing research data and experience to aid the fight against the pandemic.
The association released the initiative on its website Wednesday, saying that authorizing the WHO to use original metadata of Chinese COVID-19-related research papers is an effort to offer China's research progress and prevention experience more thoroughly and widely to global medical experts and scientists. Enditem
