BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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LONDON -- The British government announced Thursday that it has launched a new COVID-19 test and trace App, with trials taking place in parts of the country.
The NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace App will start its trials from Thursday with residents on the Isle of Wight and NHS Volunteer Responders across England, followed shortly by residents in the London borough of Newham, according to the government.
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KATHMANDU -- Critical COVID-19 cases in Nepal are rising rapidly as the pandemic spread among the elderly and people with existing health conditions, Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population said.
According to the ministry, the number of people held at intensive care units (ICUs) and those who were on ventilators reached 96 on Thursday, a sharp rise from just 22 on July 29.
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WINDHOEK -- Namibia reported a record number of five COVID-19 deaths, Health and Social Services Minister Kalumbi Shangula said on Thursday.
This brought the total number of deaths to 27.
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HANOI -- Vietnam reported 25 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 905, along with three more deaths from the disease, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The ministry also confirmed that three more COVID-19 patients had died, bringing the death toll in the country to 20 as of Thursday, noting that all the three patients, aged from 52 to 87, had underlying medical conditions.
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TEHRAN -- Iran's COVID-19 cases rose to 336,324 on Thursday after an overnight registration of 2,625 new infections, official IRNA news agency reported.
At her daily briefing, Sima Sadat Lari, the spokeswoman for Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education, said out of the new cases in the past 24 hours, 1,246 patients needed to be hospitalized.
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YEREVAN -- Armenia reported 229 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing its total to 41,023, according to the country's National Center for Disease Control.
Data from the center showed that 405 more patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 33,897.
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BISHKEK -- Laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 are decreasing significantly in Kyrgyzstan, indicating a downward trend, the country's Deputy Health Minister Mademin Karataev told an online briefing on Thursday.
In line with a decrease in patients with COVID-19, the number of observations are decreasing and makeshift hospitals are being closed, and some hospitals have been resuming operations as formerly, said Karataev.
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THIMPHU -- The lockdown in Bhutan is likely to extend as another 12 people, who were close contacts of a COVID-19 patient in Phuentsholing town, a commercial hub in southern Bhutan, tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
All 12 people were men as per the ministry of health. They were working with the 25-year-old man who tested positive for the virus on Wednesday with no known history of recent travel.
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BEIJING -- Xinfadi, the largest wholesale market with fruit, vegetable and meat supplies in Beijing, is to reopen starting Saturday, around two months after its business was suspended for causing a COVID-19 epidemic resurgence, a local official said Thursday.
Zhou Xinchun, executive deputy head of Fengtai District, home to the farm produce market, said part of the market will reopen Saturday, recovering 60 percent of fruits and vegetables transaction volumes in normal times, while the rest will resume business before Sept. 10. Enditem
