Live COVID-19 updates: Sri Lankan PM suspends ruling party election rallies as COVID-19 cases spike

Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-12 23:42:22|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday informed the ruling political party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, to temporarily halt election rallies following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases from a drug rehabilitation center in Sri Lanka's north central province.

Following the prime minister's announcement, the ruling party said in a statement that all election rallies to be held on July 13, 14 and 15, which were to be attended by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Rajapaksa, have been canceled until further notice to comply with health guidelines.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore's Ministry of Health reported 178 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 45,961.

Of the new cases, one is an imported case, one is a community case and the rest 176 are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

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DOHA -- The Qatari health ministry on Sunday announced 470 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 103,598.

The total recoveries in the country increased to 99,743 after 809 more patients recovered, while one more patient died, raising the death toll to 147, the official Qatar News Agency quoted a statement by the ministry as saying.

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KABUL -- Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry has announced decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the country as 85 cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 34,451 in the country, the ministry said in a statement Sunday.

According to the ministry, 14 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Kabul, 18 in Herat and the remaining 53 are in other parts of the country.

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HANOI -- Vietnam reported two new cases of COVID-19 infection on Sunday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 372 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health.

The latest cases were two Vietnamese women, aged 31 and 36, who recently returned to the country from Russia, Vietnam News Agency reported, noting that they were quarantined upon arrival.

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WASHINGTON -- Despite his leading role in the U.S. fight against COVID-19, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci has been sidelined by the White House, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Citing a senior White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Post reported that Fauci "no longer briefs (U.S. President) Trump and is never in the Oval (Office) anymore."

According to the report, Fauci had not spoken to Trump since "the first week of June."

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection reported 38 additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, including 30 local infections.

The newly reported cases brought the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong to 1,469.

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MINSK -- Belarus reported 165 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking its total to 64,932, according to the country's health ministry.

There have been 461 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 55,380, the ministry said.

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BEIJING -- With joint efforts of both sides, China-Mexico relations have maintained a good momentum of development, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang has said.

Zheng made the remarks on Friday at the 17th political consultation between the two countries' foreign ministries via video link, which was also attended by Mexico's Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs Julian Ventura.

For his part, Ventura spoke highly of the bilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19 and other fields. Enditem

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