BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
- - - -
MADRID -- The State of Alarm which was imposed on Spain on March 14 to halt the spread of the coronavirus expired at midnight between Saturday and Sunday, allowing the country to progress into what Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the "new normality."
All of Spain is now progressing into a condition which will remain in place until a vaccine or a reliable treatment for coronavirus is discovered.
"A new period is starting now ...our economy is starting to beat. We are in a situation where we can move forward," said Sanchez in a televised speech to the nation on Saturday.
Spaniards are now able to move freely around the country for the first time since March 14. Spain has also reopened its borders to travelers from the European Union and Schengen travel regions, and the first flights from abroad arrived on Sunday morning.
- - - -
ADDIS ABABA -- Ethiopia's confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 4,532 after 63 new ones were detected, said the Health Ministry on Sunday.
The ministry said in a statement that out of a total of 4,457 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 63 tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The ministry also reported additional one death, bringing the country's death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic to 74.
- - - -
TEHRAN -- Iran's confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 204,952 on Sunday after an overnight registration of 2,368 new infections, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
Sima Sadat Lari, spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said at the daily briefing that out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,114 have been hospitalized.
The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of 9,623 Iranians, up by 116 in the past 24 hours. Besides, 163,591 have recovered from the coronavirus pandemic.
- - - -
HANOI -- Vietnam reported no new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with its total confirmed cases remaining at 349 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile as many as 327 patients have recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the ministry.
Vietnam has recorded no local transmission of the epidemic for 66 straight days while there are over 5,700 people being quarantined and monitored in the country, said the ministry.
- - - -
BEIJING -- One of PepsiCo's food factories in Beijing has suspended production after a total of eight COVID-19 infections were reported there on Saturday.
Two of the cases from the factory in Daxing district had been to the Xinfadi wholesale market, Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Beijing center for disease control and prevention, told a press conference Sunday.
The factory has initiated an emergency response and took measures including suspending the production and operation, sealing the products, disinfecting the environment and quarantining the personnel, according to Fan Zhimin, an official with the PepsiCo Greater China Region.
Beijing has reported over 200 domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases since June 11, mostly in connection with the Xinfadi market.
- - - -
BEIJING -- The daily nucleic acid testing capacity of China's capital Beijing had surged from 100,000 to more than 230,000 as of Saturday amid efforts to contain the resurgence of domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases.
The number of designated institutions for nucleic acid testing in the city had increased from 98 to 124 over the past week, Gao Xiaojun, a spokesman for the municipal health commission, told a press conference Sunday. Enditem
