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Amid New Surge In Virus Cases, Israel's Top Public Health Official Resigns
Israel's top public health official resigned Tuesday, claiming leaders ignored her warnings and reopened the country too quickly, driving a new surge of COVID-19 cases that officials are scrambling to contain.
Siegal Sadetzki, the leading epidemiologist heading Israel's coronavirus response and director of the Israeli Health Ministry's Public Health Services, posted her nine-page resignation letter on Facebook on Tuesday, the same day Israel quickly reimposed restrictions shutting down wedding and entertainment venues, bars, clubs, gyms and swimming pools.
"Unfortunately, for the last few weeks, the compass handling the pandemic lost its direction," Sadetzki wrote. "We've watched with frustration as the hourglass of possibilities has run out. On this basis I reached the conclusion that under the new conditions in which my professional opinion is not accepted — I can no longer assist with an effective response to curb the spread of the virus."
In recent days, Israel has had record-high numbers of around 1,100 daily infections, nearly twice the peak seen in the spring, with serious cases doubling about every four days. According to the Health Ministry, the country currently has at least 12,700 active cases, with 35 patients on ventilators. At least 338 have died.
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U.S. notifies UN of withdrawal from World Health Organization
The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, although the pullout won't take effect until next year, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration or if circumstances change. Former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said he would reverse the decision on his first day in office if elected.
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Pa. reports 995 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, largest number in nearly two months
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 995 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, the largest number of new cases in a single day in nearly two months.
Statewide, 91,299 Pennsylvanians have been infected with the virus, according to the health department. The department said it is seeing more positive cases among younger adults.
The new report marks the state’s largest number of new cases in one day since May 10, when the health department reported 1,295 new cases. That was the last time the health department reported more than 1,000 new cases in a single day.
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43 Florida ICUs at capacity as coronavirus cases surge
Forty-three Florida hospital intensive care units (ICUs) across 21 counties have reached capacity as coronavirus cases in the Sunshine State surge, according to new data from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Orange counties are among those with affected hospitals, according to the AHCA data, with another 32 hospitals at bed availability of no more than 10 percent.
The report comes the same day the state Department of Health confirmed 7,347 new cases in the state, for a total of 213,794, and set a new record for the percentage of tests coming back positive, at 16.3 percent, on Monday.
Single-day levels remain below the single-day record of 11,458 new cases reported Saturday, which broke the previous record of the Thursday before
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Ontario introduces legislation to extend emergency orders into next year, as province reports 112 new cases
Province's state of emergency was set to expire July 15, before Premier Ford announced extension plan.
Ontario introduced new legislation Tuesday to enable the extension of some pandemic emergency orders over the next year, as the province reports 112 new cases.
The legislation, to be tabled Wednesday, would allow the government to extend or amend some emergency orders a month at a time, with the law expiring a year after it's passed.
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said the proposed legislation would "bridge the gap between the public health measures that were necessary to respond to the initial and immediate threat of COVID-19, and those now needed to support Ontario's safe recovery."
Under current legislation, the province can only issue emergency orders while the state of emergency is in place.
"This [new] legislation will not allow us to create any new emergency orders, they can only be amended or removed," said Premier Doug Ford at a daily COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday.
Ontario's state of emergency is set to expire July 15, and the Premier's office said it would introduce a motion Wednesday to extend it until July 24 to ensure there is no gap between the provincial declaration and when the new bill takes effect.
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Coronavirus: Can herd immunity be achieved without a huge number of deaths? Only 10% of virus exposure was found in Madrid while 60-70% would be needed for protection
Spain had one of the most severe and painful experiences with coronavirus in Europe.
There have been more than 250,000 confirmed cases and 28,000 deaths. But despite that, new research reveals that the country is nowhere near being able to benefit from herd immunity. The study suggests that only 5% of people show markers of having been infected.
Benjamin Meyer, a virologist at the University of Geneva, wrote the commentary on the study published in The Lancet.
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Coronavirus: Three England pubs close after positive tests
A number of pubs in England have shut after customers tested positive for coronavirus.
At least three establishments announced they had shut their doors again just days after reopening at the weekend.
They were among hundreds of venues that welcomed customers after three months as lockdown measures were eased - most apparently with no problem.
But crowds descending in some towns and cities prompted fears social distancing was being disregarded.
The Lighthouse Kitchen and Carvery in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, said it was "slowly" working through a list of customers who had left details at the weekend and that all staff had tested negative for the virus.
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Australia's 2nd-largest city heads back into coronavirus lockdown
New restrictions affect about 4.9 million people in Melbourne.
Lockdown measures were reimposed in Australia's second biggest city on Tuesday, confining Melbourne residents to their homes unless undertaking essential business for six weeks, as officials scramble to contain a coronavirus outbreak.
The decision, which affects around 4.9 million people, was announced just hours before the busy border between Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, and New South Wales is scheduled to close for the first time in a century.
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