LETTER ,FROM BRAZIL,: The Brazilians ,being dealt a double, blow IN PICTURES: , How ,coronavirus ,swept ,through Brazil, GLOBAL ,TRACKER,: The world's ,hotspots ,REALITY, CHECK: ,Fake, cures, in Latin America ,RECOVERY: ,How long does, it take to get, better,?

 

• LETTER FROM BRAZIL: The Brazilians being dealt a double blow
• IN PICTURES: How coronavirus swept through Brazil
• GLOBAL TRACKER: The world's hotspots
• REALITY CHECK: Fake cures in Latin America
• RECOVERY: How long does it take to get better?

Coronavirus,: Brazil ,passes 100,000 ,deaths, as outbreak shows no sign of easing,

 Brazil has recorded more 100,000 deaths linked to Covid-19, the world's second-highest figure, as the outbreak in the country shows no sign of easing.

The virus killed 50,000 people in three months, but that number doubled in just 50 days. There have been more than three million confirmed cases so far.

The pandemic is yet to peak but shops and restaurants have already reopened.

President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the impact of the virus and opposed measures that could hit the economy.

The far-right leader, who caught the disease himself and recovered, fought restrictions imposed by state governors to curb Covid-19, and has frequently joined crowds of supporters, at times without a face mask.

Experts have complained of a lack of a co-ordinated plan by the Bolsonaro government as local authorities now focus on restarting the economy, which is likely to boost the spread of the virus.

The federal government's response is being led by an army general who has no experience in public health. Two earlier health ministers, both physicians, left the job after disagreeing with the president over social distancing measures and the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, though studies say it is not effective.

President Bolsonaro - who has called Covid-19 a "little flu" and has been criticised at home and abroad for his response to the outbreak - said he recovered from his own infection thanks to the anti-malarial drug.

Media captionBrazil's former health minister speaks out

Brazil has had 100,477 virus-related deaths and 3,012,412 cases, according to the health ministry, though the numbers are believed to be much higher because of insufficient testing. Only the United States has higher figures.

"We should be living in despair, because this is a tragedy like a world war. But Brazil is under collective anaesthesia," Dr José Davi Urbaez, a senior member of the Infectious Diseases Society, told Reuters news agency.

"The government's message today is: 'Catch your coronavirus and if it's serious, there is intensive care.' That sums up our policy today."

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionPresident Bolsonaro greeted supporters in his first trip after recovering from Covid-19 last month

There are fears the disease is spreading faster in deprived neighbourhoods and remote areas, such as indigenous communities, where access to adequate health care is difficult.

In a tribute to victims on Saturday, the non-governmental group Rio de Paz placed crosses on the sand on Rio de Janeiro's famed Copacabana beach and released 1,000 red balloons into the sky.

Senate Speaker Davi Alcolumbre announced four days of mourning in Congress but President Bolsonaro has not yet commented. Earlier this week he said he was sorry for all the deaths but suggested "we should carry on with [our] lives".

Kerala, plane crash, 'Black box,from, Air India, jet, found

 Investigators have found the so-called "black boxes" of a plane that crashed in the southern India state of Kerala, killing at least 18 people.

The Air India Express plane, en route from Dubai, skidded off the runway during bad weather before breaking in two while landing at Kozhikode airport.

There were 190 people on board the flight and one official said it was a "miracle" the toll was not higher.

It is still India's worst passenger air crash in a decade.

The flight was repatriating Indians stranded by the coronavirus crisis. First responders to the crash have been asked to go into quarantine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "pained" by the accident.

What do we know about the crash?

Flight IX 1134 was carrying 184 passengers, including 10 infants, and six crew when it attempted to land at the airport in Kozhikode, formerly known as Calicut.

The Boeing 737 aircraft crashed at 19:40 local time (14:10 GMT) on Friday. Indian media said the pilots could not see the runway during a first attempt at landing due to heavy rain.

When they did touch down, the plane is said to have landed 1,000 metres beyond the threshold of the runway before skidding off and sliding into a ditch.

The impact broke the plane in two. Images from the scene showed the fuselage shredded, with the blue seats from the jet scattered along the ground.

Kozhikode has a table-top airport, a challenge for air crew during difficult landings as they typically have steep drops at one or both ends of the runway.

Both the pilots were among the dead. Nearly 150 people are being treated in hospital.

بھارت سے 11 پاکستانی مہاجرین کی لاشیں برآمد

جودھ پو(۔ 09اگست2020ء) : بھارت سے 11 پاکستانی مہاجرین کی لاشیں برآمد، مبینہ طور پر پاکستانی مہاجرین کی موت زہریلی گیس کے باعث ہوئی، بھارتی پولیس نے اجتماعی خودکشی قرار دیدیا، تفصیلات کے مطابق بھارتی ریاست راجھستان کے ضلع جودھپور کی تحصیل ڈیچو کے ایک فارم سے 11 ہندو پاکستانی مہاجرین کی لاشیں ملی ہیں۔ بھارتی میڈیا کے مطابق خدشہ ظاہر کیا جارہا ہے کہ زہریلی گیس کی وجہ سے یہ افراد ہلاک ہوئے ہیں۔

مقامی ذرائع کا کہنا ہے کہ خاندان کے افراد نے اجتماعی خودکشی کی ہے۔ مقامی پولیس کے مطابق جائے وقوعہ سے فصلوں میں استعمال ہونے والی کھاد کی بو آرہی تھی۔ ہوسکتا ہے انہوں نے یہ کیمیکل پانی میں ملا کر پی لیا ہو۔ خاندان کے افراد کی ہلاکت رات کے وقت ہوئی اور اس حوالے سے علاقے کے لوگوں کا کہنا ہے کہ پاکستان سے ہجرت کرکے آنے والا یہ ہندو خاندان مالی مشکلات کا شکار تھا ، متاثرہ فیملی 2012 میں پاکستان کے صوبہ سندھ سےآئی تھی۔

Coronavirus ,Vietnam:, The mysterious resurgence of ,Covid-19,

 In mid-July, Vietnam still shone as a Covid-19 outlier. No reported deaths, and months without a locally transmitted case.

Fans packed into football stadiums, schools had reopened, and customers returned to their favourite cafes.

"We were already back to normal life," said Mai Xuan Tu, a 27-year-old from Da Nang in central Vietnam.

Like many in the coastal city wildly popular with domestic visitors, she works in the tourism industry and was slowly resuming bookings for the tour company she founded.

But by the end of July, Da Nang was the epicentre of a new coronavirus outbreak, the source of which has stumped scientists. Cases suddenly surged after 99 straight days with no local transmissions.

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Last week the city saw the country's first Covid-19 death, a toll that has since risen to 10.

Successful response

Just weeks earlier, Vietnam was praised globally as a rare pandemic success story.

Media captionScottish pilot Stephen Cameron spent 10 weeks in a coma in Vietnam

The communist country acted fast and decisively where other nations faltered, closing its borders to almost all travellers except returning citizens as early as March.

It quarantined and tested anyone who entered the country in government facilities, and conducted widespread contact-tracing and testing nationwide.

So what went wrong?

"I'm not sure anything went wrong," says Prof Michael Toole, an epidemiologist and principal research fellow at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne.

Most countries that thought they had the pandemic under control have seen resurgences, he says, pointing to a long list including Spain, Australia and Hong Kong.

"Like in the first wave, Vietnam has responded quickly and forcefully."

Congress' ,last-ditch talks ,on virus, stimulus fail

 Last-ditch negotiations at the US Congress to forge another stimulus package for the coronavirus-ravaged economy have collapsed in stalemate.

Democrats and Republicans remain at odds over everything from unemployment benefits to financial aid for schools to cash injections for states' coffers.

The US unemployment rate stands at 10.2%, above any level during the 2008 financial crisis.

Jobless benefits have expired, as did a federal moratorium on evictions.

On Friday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful elected Democrat, held a meeting in her Capitol Hill office with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Hong Kong: ,US imposes ,sanctions on chief executive ,Carrie Lam

 The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, and 10 other top officials from Hong Kong and mainland China.

The sanctions were used to target those undermining Hong Kong's autonomy, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

"The United States stands with the people of Hong Kong," Mr Mnuchin added.

The move comes weeks after China imposed a controversial national security law on Hong Kong, which critics say threatened its freedoms.

US-China tensions continue to escalate - only a few hours ago, the Trump administration moved to ban US transactions with the Chinese owners of the WeChat and TikTok apps..