GLOBAL COVID-19 TODAY
CORONAVIRUS CASES: 21,082,038
DEATHS: 757,633
RECOVERED: 13,933,175
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Lockdown to ease further Saturday
BBC News says more beauty treatments, small wedding receptions and live indoor performances will be able to resume in England from Saturday, as lockdown rules are eased.
Bowling alleys, casinos and soft play centres will also be able to reopen, PM Boris Johnson has announced.
It comes as the government introduces bigger fines for failing to wear a mask in places where it is compulsory.
Read the full story on BBC News
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Government quietly drops 1.3 million COVID tests from England’s tally
The Guardian says the government has quietly removed 1.3m coronavirus tests from its data because of double counting, raising fresh questions about the accuracy of the testing figures.
In the government’s daily coronavirus update on Wednesday, it announced it had lowered the figure for “tests made available” by about 10% and discontinued the metric.
Read the full story on The Guardian
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France’s Covid-19 cases ‘growing fastest among young people’ amid second wave
France24 says French health authorities warned Thursday that new coronavirus cases were rising fastest among younger people, as the number of confirmed infections per day continued to tick up.
In mainland France, the pace of growth in cases in the week of August 3-9 was fastest among people aged 15-44, the health ministry’s DGS public health arm said, calling it a “troubling situation.”
Read the full story on France24
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Brazil’s death toll tops 105,000
Aljazeera says Brazil reported 60,091 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,261 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.
Brazil has registered 3,224,876 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 105,463, according to ministry data
Read the full story on Aljazeera
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Saudi health service gets nearly 3m calls in one month
Arab News says the Saudi Ministry of Health’s 937 Service Center received 2,903,676 calls in the past month amid growing concern over the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the centre, the calls included 898,039 medical consultations, 179,267 appointment requests and 287,836 coronavirus inquiries.
Read the full story on Arab News
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India to celebrate its Independence Day with restrictions and social distancing
CNN says India celebrates its Independence Day on August 15, but the coronavirus pandemic means this year’s festivities will be more subdued.
In the capital New Delhi, 4,000 people are expected to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s annual speech.
The Indian government has restricted movement to the Red Fort — the historical venue for the celebrations. Entry to the event is by special invitation this year, and most of the invites have gone out to diplomats, officials and the media.
Read the full story on CNN
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ARTS & ENT
Andrew Lloyd Webber volunteers for Covid-19 vaccine trial
Sky News says Andrew Lloyd Webber is taking part in a coronavirus vaccine trial, saying he will do anything to “prove that theatres can re-open safely”.
The trial is being run by the University of Oxford, which has teamed up with drug company AstraZeneca. They are currently working on the new vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
Read the full story on Sky News
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SPORT
‘I get goosebumps playing with Anderson’
BBC Sport says all-rounder Sam Curran says he gets goosebumps playing alongside England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson.
Anderson moved to 592 Tests wickets with 2-35 on day one of the second Test as England held Pakistan to 126-5.
After returning match figures of 1-97 in the first Test, Anderson denied speculation that he could retire and described the suggestion as unfair.
Read the full story on BBC Sport
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