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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's total confirmed COVID-19 cases topped 800,000 and the death toll surpassed 40,000 on Thursday, local media reported citing the health ministry's data.
In the past 24 hours, the health ministry registered 30,412 new cases, taking the South American country's tally to 802,828, the world's second highest after the United States. The death toll reached 40,919 as more than 1,200 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, the third highest after the United States and Britain.
Some 345,595 COVID-19 patients have recovered since the outbreak in the country, the ministry said.
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BEIJING -- Chinese health authority said Friday that it received reports of seven new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Thursday, of which six were imported from overseas.
The domestically transmitted case was reported in Beijing, the National Health Commission said in its daily report.
No deaths related to the disease or new suspected cases were reported Thursday, according to the commission.
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MEXICO CITY -- Mexico has reported 4,790 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 587 additional deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 133,974 cases and 15,944 fatalities, the Health Ministry said Thursday.
The real totality of infected people is substantially higher than the official count, Mexican authorities have said.
Mexico has the fourth largest caseload of COVID-19 in Latin America, following Brazil, Peru and Chile, according a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
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QUITO -- Ecuador's death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has increased to 3,768 as a total of 45,082 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Public Health Ministry said on Thursday.
In the past 24 hours, 642 new cases of infection were detected and 48 more patients died, according to the ministry's daily update.
More than half of the country's cities are now resuming economic activities under the new normal of maintaining social distancing and wearing face masks.
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. biotech firm Moderna said on Thursday it expects to begin a phase-3 study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in July.
Moderna has finalized the phase-3 study protocol based on feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The randomized, 1:1 placebo-controlled trial is expected to include approximately 30,000 participants enrolled in the United States.
With the phase-3 dose being finalized at 100 mcg, Moderna remains on track to be able to deliver approximately 500 million doses per year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year beginning in 2021, it said in a release.
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WASHINGTON -- An influential COVID-19 model produced by the University of Washington has revised its projections, forecasting nearly 170,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States by Oct. 1.
The model, from the university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), projected 169,890 cumulative COVID-19 deaths in the country by Oct. 1, with a range of 133,201 to 290,222.
The projections painted a grim picture of what could come when summer turns to fall, with a steep rise in daily deaths forecast in September.
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