BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
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WASHINGTON -- Top U.S. health officials on Tuesday called for more caution and testing as many states are reopening or planning to reopen.
Anthony Fauci, a top expert on infectious diseases, told a Senate panel during a teleconference hearing that the nation has not had the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected over 1.3 million people in the country with more than 80,000 deaths, under total control yet.
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ROME -- A further 172 COVID-19 patients had died in the past 24 hours in Italy, bringing the country's death toll to 30,911, out of total infection cases of 221,216, according to fresh figures on Tuesday.
Recoveries jumped by 2,452, bringing the nationwide total to 109,039 -- up from 106,587 recoveries on Monday. Nationwide, the number of active infections fell by 1,222 to 81,266, according to Italy's Civil Protection Department.
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CAIRO -- As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to rage in the Middle East on Tuesday, the total number of confirmed cases in Turkey surpassed 140,000, while the tally in Iran crossed 110,000.
Turkey's Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced 1,704 new COVID-19 cases, as the tally of infections in the country rose to 141,475 and the death toll surged to 3,894 after 53 more deaths were recorded.
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SKOPJE -- North Macedonia adopted a three-phase plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown, the government said Tuesday in a statement.
Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski said that the first phase will involve the reopening of businesses during the state of emergency and the gradual easing of the citizens' movement nationwide.
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TEHRAN -- Iran's Education Ministry announced Tuesday that all schools nationwide will reopen as of May 16 after nearly three months of closure due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Education Minister Mohsen Haji Mirzaee said teachers and school staff will be at schools during the working hours, according to Tasnim news agency.
It is not obligatory for the students to attend the schools, but they can partake in classes to ask questions and make preparations for exams, Haji Mirzaee was quoted as saying.
All schools have received the health protocols and instructions by the health ministry and will be obligated to observe the health rules when the students return to classes, he said.
On Tuesday, Iran announced a total of 110,767 confirmed cases, of whom 6,733 have died.
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DOHA -- Qatar's Health Ministry on Tuesday reported 1,526 new confirmed infections of the novel coronavirus, bringing its total tally to 25,149, of which 22,116 people are being treated.
"Also, 179 people recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 3,019, while the fatalities remain at 14," the official Qatar News Agency reported, quoting a ministry statement.
Most of the new cases are of expatriate workers who have been subject to quarantine after they were found to have been in contact with confirmed cases.
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GAZA -- Egypt reopened on Tuesday the Rafah Crossing Point on the border with the Gaza Strip to enable Palestinians stranded in Egypt to return home, officials said.
Iyad al-Bozzom, spokesman of the Hamas-run Ministry of Interior, told a news briefing in Gaza city that reopening Rafah Crossing will enable around 1,700 people to return from Egypt to the Gaza Strip.
He said it is the second time that Egypt reopens this border crossing point for stranded Palestinians since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in Palestine on March 5.
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LONDON-- Another 627 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Monday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 32,692, the Department of Health and Social Care said Tuesday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including at hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
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ANKARA -- Experts urged vigilance saying that the danger is not over yet as Turkey inches back towards normal amid a downward trend in COVID-19 cases.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that the country will return to normal gradually from May to July within the framework of a "new normalization," in order to reopen economy.
Most of the shopping malls, barbershops and beauty salons across Turkey resumed operations on Monday. Numerous factories in the country will restart production in the next week.
Ahead of the reopening, the Council of Shopping Centers said that personnel and customers should wear masks and continue to observe social distancing rules in all malls.
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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN -- Brunei reported no new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with the national tally remaining at 141.
There has been one death resulting from COVID-19 in Brunei.
So far 108 individuals are still undergoing quarantine and some 16,073 laboratory tests for COVID-19 have been conducted.
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VIENTIANE -- The South Korean government has provided an aid package worth 600,000 U.S. dollars to Laos to support the country's fight against COVID-19.
The aid package, including 300,000 U.S. dollars cash and medical equipment worth 300,000 U.S. dollars, was presented to the Deputy Prime Minister Somdy Douangdy by South Korean Ambassador Shin Sung-Soon on Monday, Lao News Agency (KPL) reported Tuesday.
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RIGA -- The Riga marathon, which the Latvian capital city traditionally hosts in May, has been rescheduled to Oct. 10 and 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers said Tuesday.
Depending on the COVID-19 restrictions that still might be effective in Latvia at that time, the annual international mass sporting event, which marks its 30th anniversary this year, will be held either in its usual format or as a virtual running competition if the epidemiological situation is not safe enough.
"For the first time in the event's history, the marathon may also happen virtually, with participants being given the opportunity to run their Rimi Riga marathon race individually, recording their distance and time in a specially-developed app," said Andris Nords, the long-standing director of the Riga marathon.
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BEIRUT -- The Lebanese cabinet announced on Tuesday that it will completely shut the country down for four days from Wednesday night until Monday morning amid an increase in new COVID-19 cases.
Due to the effectiveness in containing the virus since its outbreak in Lebanon on Feb. 21, the government decided to reduce lockdown measures to allow people to return to work amid a dire economic situation.
However, the country has seen a rise in new cases recently.
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