Brazil announced Tuesday that it has recorded another one-day record of coronavirus deaths.
The Health Ministry said it had confirmed another 1,262 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 31,199, with the number of total confirmed cases now at 555,383, second only to the United States, which has more than 1.8 million total cases.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, wearing a face mask amid the new coronavirus pandemic, stands amid supporters taking pictures with cell phones as he leaves his official residence of Alvorada palace in Brasilia, May 25, 2020.
Despite the escalating spread of the virus and the growing death toll, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro continues to dismiss the severity of the outbreak as nothing more than “a little flu.” He told supporters outside the presidential palace in Brasilia that he regrets each of the deaths, “but that’s everyone’s destiny.”
According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases now stands at 6,395,327 around the world, with 380,580 deaths. More than 106,000 confirmed deaths have been recorded in the United States.
Japan
Elsewhere Tuesday, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike issued a warning for a possible resurgence of the coronavirus in the city.
Tuesday’s warning came after 34 new cases were reported, the highest total in a month, and just days after the city lifted its state of emergency.
Only a handful of new cases were reported at the end of May.
A public screen shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaking at a press conference, May 25, 2020, in Tokyo.
Koike said she is not ready yet to reimpose an official citywide alert, but said if the number rises to at least 50 new cases a day, she will again order businesses to shut down.
The governor said she suspects the new infections were brought on by the return of Japanese nightlife, including in karaoke bars.
Health experts around the world have been warning of a spike in new cases if governments and businesses reopen too soon.
South Africa
South African officials say the number of cases there has doubled every two weeks and now stands at more than 35,000.
Some businesses in Bolivia, Mexico, and Venezuela started reopening this week even after the WHO declared Latin America and the Caribbean the world’s coronavirus epicenter.
FILE - Medical workers look over paperwork at the entrance to the COVID-19 triage area at the Mexico General Hospital, in Mexico City, May 12, 2020.
“Clearly the situation in many South American countries is far from stable. There is a rapid increase in cases and those systems are coming under increasing pressure,” WHO Emergencies Director Dr. Mike Ryan said Tuesday.
The experts also warn of a possible resurgence in the United States, where thousands have been protesting in the streets against racial violence, ignoring the social distancing warnings and urgings to wear masks.
Britain
A new British report Tuesday say minorities in Britain have died of COVID-19 at rates higher than whites.
The Public Health England report says ethnic Bangladeshis are at risk of death at a rate twice as high as white Britons. Britons of other Asian backgrounds, including Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani, and black Caribbean ethnicities have a 10% to 50% greater chance of dying from COVID-19.
The report just stated the findings and did not give any recommendations on how to reduce these alarming numbers.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it cannot be disputed that blacks and other minorities are at greater risk of death, but also expressed some dismay at the lack of guidance at this time.
“This is a particularly timely publication because right across the world people are angry about racial injustice. I totally understand the urgency, the importance and the sensitivity of getting this right," Hancock said, referring to the uproar over the death of African American George Floyd in the United States while in police custody in Minneapolis.
“I get that. Black lives matter,” he said.