You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Worldwide Cases Top 18 Million as Countries Across the Globe Hit Grim New Milestones

HeadlineAug 03, 2020

The global death toll from the coronavirus is approaching 700,000, with nearly 18 million confirmed cases, as the pandemic continues to accelerate. During the month of July, more than 8 million people tested positive — almost as many as in the first six months of the pandemic combined. The World Health Organization reports cases are now doubling every six weeks.

In India, the death toll has topped 38,000 — the fifth highest in the world, surpassing Italy. One of India’s top officials, Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah, has been hospitalized after testing positive.

The Philippines reported over 5,000 new coronavirus infections Sunday, its largest single-day increase on record, bringing its total confirmed cases to over 100,000. Authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte announced he is reimposing a stricter lockdown around the capital Manila, as medical workers around the country warned the healthcare system could collapse.

In Australia, a state of disaster has been declared in Victoria, which has instituted a nightly curfew to fight the outbreak.

The coronavirus is still surging in South Africa, where over 500,000 have now tested positive for the virus. Medical workers say the surge in cases has brought South Africa’s healthcare system close to collapse.

Medical worker: “The cracks that have been there even before coronavirus are getting bigger every day. Our healthcare system, public healthcare system, is failing our people. It’s failing the entire country. It was not ready for this virus.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top