Coronavirus ‘storm’ as South Africa cases surge: Live updates | Coronavirus pandemic News

• South Africa is reporting another 13,497 new coronavirus cases for a total of 264,184 including 3,971 deaths. More than a third of cases are in new hot spot of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and capital, Pretoria. Health minister Zweli Mkhize earlier warned of a COVID-19 “storm”.

• Brazil, the world‘s number-two coronavirus hot spot after the United States, has recorded 1,071 new deaths from the outbreak, pushing its death toll to 81,469, with a total of 1,839,850 confirmed cases, the health ministry said.

• US President Donald Trump, who has avoided wearing a mask in public even as the coronavirus pandemic spreads, donned one on Saturday at a military medical facility outside Washington where he visited wounded soldiers and front-line healthcare workers.

• More than 12.6 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and more than 562,000 have died, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University. More than 6.96 million patients have recovered.

Here are the latest updates.

Sunday, July 12

03:27 GMT – Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 248 to 198,804

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 248 to 198,804, Reuters reported on Sunday quoting data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases.

The reported COVID-19 death toll rose by three to 9,063, the tally showed.

03:00 GMT – Okinawa governor wants tougher action as 61 US Marines infected

Denny Tamaki, the governor of Japan’s Okinawa island, has demanded a top US military commander take tougher prevention measures and more transparency hours after officials were told that more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected over the past few days, AP news agency reported on Sunday.

Okinawan officials on Sunday reported a total of 61 cases – 38 of them at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen – since July 7. They said that US military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown.

The disclosure of the exact figures came only after Okinawa’s repeated requests to the US military.

“Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the US military),” Tamaki told a news conference on Saturday. “We now have strong doubts that the U.S. military has taken adequate disease prevention measures.”

02:38 GMT – New York COVID-19 hospiltalisations drop

The number of New Yorkers hospitalised with the coronavirus has fallen to the lowest point in nearly four months.

State officials reported 799 COVID-19 hospitalisations on Saturday, which is the lowest number since March 18.

However, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is concerned a resurgence in cases is inevitable amid outbreaks in other states.

Earlier, Cuomo told WAMC radio that the state’s quarantine rules for travelers returning from hard-hit areas are difficult to enforce. He says the only question is how high New York’s rate will rise.

Organisers and church workers cover the boxed cremated remains of Mexicans who died from COVID-19 before a service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York on Saturday [Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP]

02:20 GMT – Greece announces 41 new cases

Greek authorities has announced 41 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with 11 detected in incoming tourists. There were no new confirmed deaths.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases stands at 3,772 and 193 deaths.

01:54 GMT – South Korea reports 44 new cases, one new death

South Korea’s new virus cases bounced back on Sunday as cluster infections in the greater Seoul area and the southwestern city of Gwangju continued to increase amid a sustained rise in imported cases, according to Yonhap news agency.

The country added 44 cases, including 21 local infections, raising the total caseload to 13,417, Yonhap quoted the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) as saying.

The tally marked a rise from 35 new virus cases reported on Saturday but a slight fall compared with 45 tallied on Friday.

The country also reported one additional death, bringing the death toll to 289.

Mourners, many wearing masks, gather outside Seoul City Hall on Saturday to pay tribute to the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon amid the continuing spread of the coronavirus in the city [Ahn Young-joon/AP]

01:35 GMT – Football match call off in Brazil after 14 players test of COVID-19

Authorities cancelled one of southern Brazil’s biggest footballing derbies less than 24 hours before kick-off on Saturday after 14 members of one side tested positive for COVID-19, Reuters reported on Sunday.

The Santa Catarina state championship restarted on July 8 with four games, including Chapecoense’s 2-0 home win over Avai.

The return match was due to kick off on Sunday but was cancelled on the orders of the state’s Health Secretariat.

Santa Catarina state has recorded 42,026 cases of the new coronavirus, with 485 deaths. So far, 71,469 people have died in Brazil, more than any other country outside the United States.

01:08 GMT – Italy reports 188 coronavirus infections

Italy has confirmed another 188 coronavirus infections, a third in the hard-hit Lombardy region, according to AP news agency.

Public health officials say the outbreak remains under control in Italy, the onetime epicenter of the outbreak in Europe, but they are paying attention to clusters of domestic and international infections.

Italy halted all air traffic with Bangladesh and 13 other countries after more than two dozen cases were linked to charter flights of returning Bangladeshi immigrants. On Saturday, eight of the 19 new infections in the Lazio region around Rome were linked to the Bangladeshi community cluster.

Another seven people with the coronavirus died in the past day, bringing Italy’s total confirmed deaths to 34,945.

Members of the Bangladeshi immigrant community queue to undergo swabs to test for COVID-19 outside a healthcare center in Rome on Thursday [File: Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP]

00:49 GMT – Mexico reports 6,094 new coronavirus cases, 539 more deaths

Mexico’s Health Ministry has reported 6,094 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 539 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 295,268 cases and 34,730 deaths.

The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases, according to Reuters news agency.

00:30 GMT – Native American tribe grapples with coronavirus deaths, infections

Navajo Nation officials have reported 10 additional deaths from COVID-19 as the tribe’s sprawling reservation remains under the latest weekend lockdown imposed to combat the coronavirus outbreak, AP news agency reported.

The Native American tribe’s death toll rose to 396, as tribal officials reported 56 additional confirmed cases, increasing the reservation’s total to nearly 8,100. The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested. Studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

The lockdown began Friday night and ends at 5 am on Monday. All businesses on the Navajo Nation are also required to close during the lockdown.

00:10 GMT – US coronavirus deaths take a long-expected turn for the worse

A long-expected upturn in United States coronavirus deaths has begun, driven by fatalities in states in the South and West, according to data on the pandemic.

According to an Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average for daily reported deaths in the US has increased from 578 two weeks ago to 664 on July 10.

Daily reported deaths increased in 27 states over that time period, but the majority of those states are averaging under 15 new deaths per day. A smaller group of states has been driving the nationwide increase in deaths.

California is averaging 91 reported deaths per day while Texas is close behind with 66, but Florida, Arizona, Illinois, New Jersey and South Carolina also saw sizable rises. New Jersey’s recent jump is thought to be partially attributable to its less frequent reporting of probable deaths.

“It’s consistently picking up. And it’s picking up at the time you’d expect it to,” said William Hanage, a Harvard University infectious diseases researcher.

00:01 GMT – South Africa reports 13,497 new cases

Undertakers wearing personal protective equipment exit the grave of Shaykh Seraj Hassan Hendricks of Azzawia Institute during his funeral in Cape Town on Friday [Nardus Engelbrecht/AP]

South Africa is reporting another 13,497 confirmed coronavirus cases for a total of 264,184 including 3,971 deaths. More than a third of cases are in the new hot spot of Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria.

Already, public hospitals are expressing concerns about shortages of available beds and medical oxygen. The percentage of tests that are positive is now over 25 percent, but the National Institute of Infectious Diseases says that could reflect both the rise in infections and more targeted testing.

The country’s health minister has said the “storm” that authorities have been warning citizens about has arrived.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Ted Regencia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 11, here.