News Desk :
Death toll from coronavirus increased 2,81,027 with total cases 41,31,2017 in 210 countries and territories while recovered 14,55,059, according to worldometer.
Total death from Covid-19 reached in the United States 80,056 which ranks the highest in the world with total cases 13,48,315, according to worldometer.
Leading members of the White House coronavirus taskforce have placed themselves in quarantine after contact with someone who had tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be “teleworking for the next two weeks” after it was determined he had a “low-risk exposure” to a person at the White House, the CDC said in a statement on Saturday evening. It added that the 68-year-old felt fine and had no symptoms.
Just a few hours earlier, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Commissioner Stephen Hahn had come in contact with someone who tested positive and was in self-quarantine for the next two weeks. The 60-year-old tested negative for the virus.
Late on Saturday, US media reports quoted a spokesperson for Dr Anthony Fauci as saying the country’s top infectious disease expert would be “taking appropriate precautions” to mitigate the risk to personal contacts while still carrying out his duties.
While he will stay at home and telework, the 79-year-old director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will go to the White House if called and take every precaution.
Fauci, a high-profile member of the US taskforce, has tested negative for COVID-19, the spokesperson said. He is considered to be at relatively low risk based on the degree of his exposure but he will continue to be tested regularly.
All three men are scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday. Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the panel, said the White House will allow Redfield and Hahn to testify by videoconference, a one-time exception to the administration’s policies on hearing testimony. The statement was issued before Fauci’s quarantine was announced.
Officials have not revealed the identity of the COVID-19 positive individual who had contact with the taskforce.
A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, becoming the second person who works at the White House complex known to have contracted COVID-19 this week. White House officials had confirmed on Thursday that a member of the military serving as one of President Donald Trump’s valets had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide as spokeswoman Katie Miller, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.
Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 194 on Saturday, against 243 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases fell to 1,083 from 1,327 on Friday.
The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 30,395 the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.
The number of confirmed cases amounts to 218,268 the third highest global tally behind those of the United States and Spain.
People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 84,842 from 87,961 the day before.
There were 1,034 people in intensive care on Saturday, down from 1,168 on Friday, maintaining a long-running decline. Of those originally infected, 103,031 were declared recovered against 99,023 a day earlier.
The agency said 1.645 million people had been tested for the virus against 1.609 million on Friday, out of a population of around 60 million.
Spain’s daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to 143 on Sunday, down from 179 the previous day, the health ministry reported.
It marks the lowest daily death toll since mid-March.
Overall deaths rose to 26,621 from 26,478 on Saturday and the number of diagnosed cases rose to 224,390 from 223,578 the day before, the ministry said.
