Brazil’s Ministry of Health has reported at least 758 additional coronavirus fatalities during the last 24 hours, with 41,350 new cases, bringing the death toll to 120,262, and the confirmed cases to 3,846,153.
Police officers have detained demonstrators in Jerusalem as protests continue against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the alleged corruption in his government.

Every Italian region reported new coronavirus cases after a record 99,000 tests turned up another 1,444 cases.

More than 24.89 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, and 16.3 million have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 840,300 people have died.
Here are the latest updates:
Sunday, August 30
00:10 GMT – Brazil coronavirus deaths surpass 120,000
Brazil’s Ministry of Health has reported at least 758 additional coronavirus fatalities during the last 24 hours, with 41,350 new cases, bringing the death toll to 120,262, and the confirmed cases to 3,846,153.
Brazil is the second-hardest-hit country by COVID-19 after the United States, both in the fatalities and infections. The country, however, reported a slowdown in the number of new cases and deaths.
00:01 GMT – Italy carries out record number of COVID-19 tests 
Every Italian region reported new coronavirus cases after a record 99,000 tests turned up another 1,444 cases, The Associated Press news agency reported.
The health ministry says one more victim of COVID-19 brought Italy’s official death toll to 35,473 on Saturday.
Italy has nearly doubled its daily tests this month amid a surge in new infections, mostly among young people returning from vacation.
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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. 
For all the key developments from yesterday, August 29, go here.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

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India, the third worst-affected country in the world, has reported a record number of cases for coronavirus. 
Brazil has expressed cautious optimism that the country’s coronavirus outbreak could be about to slow, with cases and deaths on a weekly basis falling from their late July peaks. 
Kamala Harris accused US President Donald Trump of a “failure of leadership” for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic as she accepted the nomination as vice president.
South Korea has reported a seventh day of triple digit cases with infections growing outside Seoul.
More than 22 million people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 around the world, and more than 14 million have recovered. More than 786,000 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates:
Thursday, August 20
05:30 GMT – Germany reports highest number of daily cases since April
Germany recorded 1,707 cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest since April.
Official figures from the Robert Koch Institute show Germany with a total of 228,621 confirmed cases. An additional ten people died from the disease. 
04:15 GMT – India reports record daily jump in coronavirus cases
India has reported a record jump in coronavirus cases.
The Health Ministry confirmed 69,652 cases on Thursday, and also reported 997 more deaths.
India’s caseload is the third highest in the world after the US and Brazil.
03:50 GMT – Indonesia infection rate highest in Southeast Asia
Indonesia has officially reported 6,346 deaths from COVID-19, the highest toll in Southeast Asia, but Reuters reports that including people who died with acute COVID-19 symptoms but were not tested, the death toll is three times higher.
In a comprehensive report on the situation in the archipelago, the news agency says problems with testing as well as a lack of contact tracing has contributed to the rapid spread of the disease. 
“This virus has already spread all over Indonesia. What we are doing is basically herd immunity,” Prijo Sidipratomo, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the National Veterans Development University in Jakarta told Reuters. “So, we should just dig many, many graves.”
You can read the story here.
03:30 GMT – China reports fourth day with no local transmission of coronavirus
China has reported its fourth day in a row without any local transmission of coronavirus. The seven cases announced on Thursday were all imported from overseas, according to state media.

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) August 20, 2020

03:00 GMT – Australia’s Victoria reports 240 new cases, 13 deaths
The Australian state of Victoria has reported 240 new cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, up slightly on the 216 announced on Wednesday.
It also reported 13 deaths.
The state is the epicentre of a new wave of the outbreak in Australia and its capital city, Melbourne, has been locked down with a curfew imposed.

#COVID19VicData for 20 August 2020. 240 new cases of #coronavirus ( #COVID19) were detected in Victoria yesterday. Sadly we report 13 deaths from the virus. More information later today. pic.twitter.com/fiQChvG3Oh
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 19, 2020

01:55 GMT  – South Korea reports seventh day of triple digit cases
South Korea has reported its seventh consecutive day of triple digit cases, with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirming 288 cases – 276 locally acquired – in the past 24 hours.
Many of the cases have been traced to churches in Seoul, but an increasing number are appearing elsewhere in the country including the cities of Busan, Daejeon and Gwangju. 
The largest cluster is linked to the Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul.
01:40 GMT – China state media defends Wuhan pool party
China’s state media has come to the defence of a theme park in Wuhan which hosted a massive music festival and pool party over the weekend and raised concern about COVID-19 when pictures and videos were widely shared overseas.
The Global Times said the packed event was a sign of life returning to normal in a city that spent 76 days in lockdown and accused critics of “sour grapes”. The virus first appeared in Wuhan late last year.

Criticizing #Wuhan residents for having fun at water park music festival shows foreign sour grapes. People should reflect on why their countries’ epidemic control failed rather than smear Wuhan people and their hard-won victory over #coronavirus https://t.co/NJVBmxLiHk https://t.co/BRQBJvZtoe
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) August 19, 2020

VIDEO: 🇨🇳 Crowds packed out a water park over the weekend in the central Chinese city of #Wuhan, where the #coronavirus first emerged late last year, keen to party as the city edges back to normal life pic.twitter.com/SJFBmx5sU8
— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 17, 2020

01:15 GMT – Qantas posts $1.4b loss amid pandemic restructuring
Australian airline Qantas says it had a loss of 1.96 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion) in the financial year ended June 30, as a result of restructuring and accounting charges linked to the pandemic.
Chief executive Alan Joyce said business conditions were the worst in the carrier’s 100 year history with international flights suspended and domestic routes hampered by border closures within Australia.
Joyce added that international flights were unlikely to resume until a vaccine was widely available, which might not be until late next year.
00:30 GMT – Harris says Trump ‘failure’ on coronavirus cost US lives
Kamala Harris will accuse US President Donald Trump of a “failure of leadership” during the coronavirus pandemic that has cost countless lives and jobs, when she accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination to be their candidate for vice president at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night (US time).
Harris will also attack Trump’s abilities and character, according to excerpts released to news agencies.
Trump’s “incompetence makes us feel afraid [and] the callousness makes us feel alone.”
The US has recorded the most cases and the most deaths from coronavirus of any country in the world. 
You can keep up-to-date with all the developments from the convention, which is being held online, here.

Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris will accuse incumbent President Donald Trump of a ‘failure of leadership’ when she formally accepts the Democratic Party nomination on Wednesday night (US time) [Carlos Barria/Reuters]

00:15 GMT – Trump touts convalescent plasma as coronavirus treatment
US President Donald Trump is touting the use of convalescent plasma as a treatment for coronavirus, saying he’s “heard fantastic things” about it.
Trump made his comments after the New York Times reported that the Food and Drug Administration had put on hold emergency approval for the treatment because of concerns the data on plasma use was too weak.
The president, who is facing reelection in November, claimed the decision could be political.
“You have a lot of people over there that don’t want to rush things because they want to do it after November 3,” Trump said, referring to the election. 
“I’ve heard numbers way over 50 percent success. And people are dying and we should have it approved if it’s good and I’m hearing it’s good. I hear from people at the FDA it’s good.”
The blood plasma of people who recover from COVID-19 contains antibodies that were created to fight off the infection. It has been used in some countries including China to help other patients battling the disease.
00:00 GMT – Cautious optimism in Brazil as study shows transmission rate below one
Brazil’s Health Ministry says there are signs the coronavirus outbreak in the country – the world’s second-worst – could be about to slow.
The number of confirmed cases dropped to 304,684 last week, compared with a peak of 319,653 in the week ending July 25. The number of deaths reported on a weekly basis has also fallen to 6,755 from a peak of 7,677 in the last week of July. 
A study by Imperial College London also shows Brazil’s transmission rate has fallen below one, according to local media. That means each person diagnosed with the disease will infect fewer than one person, which will slow the outbreak.
“In a way, it is a trend. We have to see how the disease behaves in the next two weeks to see if there is a significant drop,” Arnaldo Medeiros, Secretary of Health Surveillance, told reporters on Wednesday.
Daily figures continue to show a steady rise in cases and deaths with the country registering a total of 3,456,652 cases of the disease and 111,100 deaths.
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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.
Read all the updates from yesterday (August 19) here.

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World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned of a “new and dangerous phase” in the accelerating coronavirus pandemic after 150,000 new cases were reported worldwide on Thursday – the highest in a single day. 

The United Kingdom’s chief medical officers have agreed to lower the country’s coronavirus alert level from four to three.

German biopharmaceutical company CureVac has started a clinical trial for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.

More than 458,000 people have died as a result of the new coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. At least 8.6 million people have been confirmed to have the coronavirus around the world and more than 4.2 million have recovered.

Here are the latest updates:
Saturday, June 20
02:53 GMT – Beijing reports further drop in new cases
China’s capital recorded a further drop in new confirmed coronavirus cases as tightened measures to contain the spread remain in place.
Officials reported 22 new cases in Beijing, along with five others elsewhere in the country. No new deaths were reported and 308 people remain hospitalised for treatment for COVID-19.
One of the Beijing cases is a nurse at a hospital in the suburban Changping district. The Peking University International Hospital where she worked is now under tightened restrictions, along with residential communities in the surrounding area.
A total of 205 people have been diagnosed with the virus in Beijing since the outbreak began last week, with at least two of them critically ill and 11 others in serious condition.

A volunteer from the Blue Sky Rescue team, in a protective suit, disinfects the Nangong comprehensive market following a new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, China, on June 18, 2020 [Carlos Garica Rawlins/ Reuters]

02:19 GMT – Pandemic could worsen Haiti’s ‘already alarming humanitarian situation’
Helen La Lime, the United Nations Special Representative for Haiti, said the coronavirus pandemic is worsening the country’s “already alarming humanitarian situation”, something that could see an increasing number of citizens flee the island to seek a better life abroad. 
And unless more help was offered to tackle Haiti’s economic recession, ”a primarily domestic problem could transform into a regional issue,” she warned during a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday. 
She added: “A vicious circle of mistrust, recrimination, and ultimately violence, is once again starting to define the dynamics of Haitian politics at a time when the entire society should be unified in its response to the pandemic”.
Haiti has a population of 11 million people and has so far recorded 4,900 coronavirus cases and 84 deaths.
01:57 GMT – Mexico City delays reopening as cases continue to surge
Authorities in Mexico City delayed a planned reopening of the economy as new confirmed cases and deaths reported nationwide continued at near-record levels.
Claudia Sheinbaum, mayor of the 11 million strong city, said hospital occupancy and case numbers had not decreased to the point where reopening malls and street markets would be possible. The city has about 70 percent of its hospital beds occupied.
Mexico’s Health Department reported 5,030 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 647 more deaths, both numbers down just slightly from Thursday. Total cases now stand at 170,485, with 20,394 fatalities.

A musician plays his instrument during the burial of two people, who died of COVID-19 at the San Isidro Municipal cemetery on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, on June 19, 2020 [Henry Romero/ Reuters]

Musicians play their instruments during a protest demanding financial support in Mexico City on June 19, 2020 [Eduardo Verdugo/ AP]

01:35 GMT – US court rejects bid for mandatory masks at Trump rally
Oklahoma’s Supreme Court rejected an effort to require everyone attending US President Donald Trump’s rally in Tulsa this weekend to wear a face mask and maintain social distancing to guard against spreading the coronavirus.
In a concurring opinion, two justices said the local residents asking for precautions at Trump’s rally – the US’s largest indoor gathering in months – could not establish their legal right to the relief they sought.
The petition was filed by two people described as having compromised immune systems and at particular risk from COVID-19.
The ruling came as Oklahoma reported its second-biggest increase in new infections on Friday, logging 359 cases of COVID-19 and one death. That brings the state’s total case load to 9,706 and number of deaths to 367. 
01:10 GMT – Costa Rica halts reopening
Costa Rica is halting the reopening of its economy after registering on Friday a record 119 new coronavirus infections – a figure that brings the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 2,508.
“These are not numbers to think that nothing is wrong and that we can continue with the reopening,” Health Minister Daniel Salas told reporters.
“Stores and shopping malls, beaches, churches and other activities will have to wait until we have a sustained decrease in cases,” he said, adding that the country’s national soccer league is also suspended “until further notice”.
At least 12 people have died from COVID-19 in Costa Rica.

A woman is given chayotes at a distribution point for fruits and vegetables donated by domestic producers unable to export due to the coronavirus disease, in San Jose, Costa Rica on April 13, 2020 [File: Juan Carlos Ulate/ Reuters]

00:23 GMT – Brazil surpasses one million coronavirus cases
Brazil passed one million coronavirus cases and approached 50,000 deaths, a new nadir for the world’s second-worst-hit country as it struggles with a tense political climate and worsening economic outlook.
The country’s health ministry reported 1,032,913 confirmed cases on Friday, with 1,206 new deaths that took the total official fatalities to 48,954.
Friday also saw a new record daily number of cases, with 54,771 infections, a jump the health ministry said was largely due to “instability” in its reporting system, which meant some states were reporting figures from multiple days.
Brazil is likely to surpass 50,000 deaths on Saturday, although weekend reporting can be lower.
Read more here.

00:16 GMT – Zimbabwe health minister arrested over coronavirus supplies scandal
Zimbabwe’s health minister Obadiah Moyo was arrested on Friday for alleged corruption related to the supply of medical materials to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s anti-graft agency said.
He was being held at a Harare police station and is likely to appear in court on Saturday.
“I can confirm that the minister of health and child welfare has been arrested and is being detained at Rhodesville police station,” John Makamure, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, told the AFP news agency.
“It’s to do with the procurement of COVID-19 materials,” he added.
The government did not immediately comment on the arrest, which came a day after the country’s main opposition condemned alleged corruption following suspicions about a two-million-dollar payment to a medical company contracted to provide anti-coronavirus equipment.  
Harare has come under fire for granting two-month-old company Drax Consult SAGL a contract to supply $20m worth of drugs, personal protective equipment and COVID-19 test kits.
The deal was allegedly signed without the consent of Zimbabwe’s procurement registration authority.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives. 
You can find all the key developments from yesterday, June 19, here. 
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