Meanwhile, Australia has entered its first recession since 1991 after the economy shrank 7 percent in the second quarter, official figures showed Wednesday, as the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic. The Australian Bureau of Statistics said it was the fastest quarterly contraction on record and ends a three-decade run of economic growth that was undented even by the global financial crisis. The bureau’s head of national accounts, Michael Smedes, said the pandemic and containment efforts were to blame for the “unprecedented” drop that exceeded previous records “by a wide margin”. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. Australia’s economy shrank 0.3 percent in the previous three months.
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Less Than 50% Examinees Appear on First Day of JEE Mains in Assam | Covid-19 infection fear had a profound impact on students appearing for JEE (Mains) Examination as less than 50% attendance was recorded across 6 centres in Assam, Times of India reports.
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South Korea Records 267 Fresh Cases | South Korea has recorded 267 new cases as of midnight, a slight increase over the day before. Overall, South Korea now has 20,449 confirmed cases and 326 deaths. Officials said that more than 40% of new cases are being found in people over the age of 60, increasing the number of people who are critically ill with Covid to 124 compared with three weeks ago.
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Pakistan Puzzles Health Experts as Virus Cases Drop | Six months after the coronavirus arrived in Pakistan, the country appears to have dodged the worst of the pandemic, baffling health experts and dampening fears its crowded urban areas and ramshackle hospitals will be overrun. Following an initial surge, the number of infections has plummeted in recent weeks, with Covid-19 deaths hovering in the single digits each day, while neighbouring India tallies hundreds of fatalities.
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US CDC Issues Sweeping Halt on Residential Evictions to Combat Virus | The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a sweeping nationwide order temporarily halting millions of U.S. renters from being evicted, in a bid to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The order covers all 43 million U.S. residential renters as long as they meet income eligibility requirements, although an administration official said the government does not expect an “overwhelming” use of the program.
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White House Slams WHO Over Criticism of Push for Covid-19 Vaccine | The White House pushed back on concerns expressed by the World Health Organization after a U.S. health official said a coronavirus vaccine might be approved without completing full trials. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
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56 Percent of New Covid-19 Cases in 24 hrs from Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka, TN, UP, Says Centre | Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh — have accounted for over half of the total COVID-19 cases and close to 60 per cent of the recoveries reported in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry said. Cumulatively, these five states reported 536 deaths in a day which is over 65 per cent of the total fatalities registered in the country during the period.
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LIFE IN A PANDEMIC
VIDEO: Muted celebrations for Mumbai’s Ganesha festival amid pandemic.
Mumbai’s beaches – usually packed with Hindu devotees eager to immerse idols for the Ganesh Chaturthi festival – are virtually deserted, with neighbourhood ponds set up instead to carry out the annual ritual pic.twitter.com/8bRG3Ifta4
— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 2, 2020
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With Fresh Cases, Germany’s Total Tally Mounts to 244,855 | Germany has seen its new cases rise by 1,256 to 244,855, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. Germany, which has seen some ugly protests in recent days calling for an end to restirctions on everyday life, also saw fatalities rise by 11 to 9,313.
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Hungary Closes its Border Again As Cases Continue to Rise | Hungary has closed its border again as infections continue to drive higher across Europe. The country has imposed tougher restrictions than during the spring lockdown and is now closed to almost everyone except Hungarian citizens and residents until at least next month. They must quarantine on arrival.
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Deaths in Colombia Pass 20,000-mark | Confirmed deaths in Colombia due to Covid-19 passed 20,000, the health ministry said in its daily update, while it has recorded more than 620,000 cases. The Andean country has so far reported 20,052 deaths and 624,069 cases of the novel coronavirus. Active cases stand at 133,155. This week Colombia ended its initial quarantine measures after nearly five months of national lockdowns.
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US Vaccine Decision is a ‘Real Blow’ | The US refusal to cooperate on an international Covid-19 vaccine effort with what it calls the “corrupt” World Health Organisation and China has been met with despair by leading experts. The WHO has warned against “vaccine nationalism” that could prevent the distribution of a treatment around the world. It has set up a Covid-19 vaccines global access facility (Covax), along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to accelerate the development and testing of a vaccine and work toward distributing it equally, The Guardian reports.
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Australia Enters Recession Amid Pandemic
#UPDATE Australia has entered its first recession since 1991 after the economy shrank 7% in the second quarter, official figures show, as the country reels from the #coronavirus pandemic.
Australian Bureau of Statistics says it is the fastest quarterly contraction on record pic.twitter.com/E2ZrdFiEMa
— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 2, 2020