- Spain reported a second day of 1000 plus coronavirus infections, the highest since the nation lifted its lockdown in June.
- Libya’s UN-recognised government in Tripoli announced it will impose a full lockdown in areas of the country it controls, after a rise in COVID-19 cases.
- Over 17.2 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. More than 10 million patients have recovered, and at least 671,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the latest updates:
Friday, July 31
01:19 GMT – Iran prison officials’ pleas for virus help ‘ignored’
Iran’s government ignored repeated requests from senior prison officials for help in containing coronavirus in the country’s overcrowded jails, according to Amnesty International.
The rights group said it reviewed copies of four letters to the health ministry signed by officials at Iran’s Prisons Organisation, “raising the alarm over serious shortages of protective equipment, disinfectant products, and essential medical devices”.
The ministry “failed to respond, and Iran’s prisons remain catastrophically unequipped for outbreaks”, Amnesty said.
00:50 GMT – Vietnam reports 45 new cases
Vietnam’s health ministry reported 45 new coronavirus infections linked to a recent outbreak in the central city of Danang, marking the highest daily increase since the first cases emerged in the country in late January.
The new patients, with ages ranging from 27 to 87, are linked to four hospitals and a hotel in Danang. Total infections since the virus resurfaced have reached 93, the ministry said in a statement.
Vietnam has registered 509 cases of the virus in total, with no deaths. The country had recorded 100 days without a locally transmission case before the reemergence of the virus.
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COVID-19 spreads in Vietnam after outbreak at tourist spot (1:59)
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00:42 GMT – Brazil’s Bolsonaro says he has ‘mould’ in lungs
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he was taking antibiotics for an infection that left him feeling weak, chuckling in an online video about “mold” in his lungs, having spent weeks in isolation after catching the new coronavirus.
“I just did a blood test. I was feeling kind of weak yesterday. They found a bit of infection also. Now I’m on antibiotics,” Bolsonaro said in a livestream video, without elaborating on the infection.
“After 20 days indoors, I have other problems. I have mould in my lungs,” he said, referring to nearly three weeks he spent at the official presidential residence.
He tested positive for the coronavirus on July 7 and then negative last Saturday.
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Latin America: Millions at risk of famine as COVID-19 cases surge (2:34)
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00:05 GMT – Botswana reinstates lockdown in capital
Botswana’s capital city Gaborone has returned to a two-week lockdown to stem its latest surge in coronavirus infections.
Under new rules for the capital and surrounding areas, only essential workers would be able to leave home for work, with others only able to leave the house to buy groceries. All gatherings will be banned and hotels, restaurants, gyms and schools will close.
“During the course of the week the disease has taken an unprecedented turn which now required we place the Greater Gaborone region under lockdown to enable our containment measures to take hold,” Kereng Masupu, coordinator of the COVID-19 Task force team, said in a televised briefing.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Zaheena Rasheed in Male, Maldives.
You can find all the key developments from yesterday, July 20, here.
