Brazil on Tuesday registered 1,179 COVID-19 deaths in the previous 24 hours, the Brazilian Ministry of Health said, as the pandemic exacted its worst daily toll yet in the hardest-hit Latin American country.
This was the first time the daily toll exceeded 1,000.
New infections in the previous 24 hours totaled 17,408, bringing the total to 271,628, the third-highest in the world after the US and Russia.
Photo: AP
As of yesterday, the death toll stood at 17,983.
The pandemic appears to be gaining pace rapidly in Brazil, and experts say the peak there is not expected until early next month.
Public health experts also say that the government figures might grossly understate the death and infection tolls — perhaps by as many as 15 times or more — because Brazil carries out very little COVID-19 testing.
Brazil recently jumped three spots in 72 hours to take third place in the world in number of known infections, overtaking Britain, Spain and Italy.
Already, hospitals are close to the breaking point in some areas, including Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the northwestern state of Amazonas.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is in open conflict with most of the country’s 27 state governors as he downplays the virus and presses for the end of stay-at-home measures to rescue Latin America’s largest economy, which is now forecast to be headed for deep recession.
Bolsonaro announced that his interim health minister would yesterday issue a new treatment protocol expanding the use of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine to treat even mild cases of COVID-19.
Like US President Donald Trump, to whom he is often compared, Bolsonaro has hailed chloroquine as a potential wonder drug against the novel coronavirus, even though some studies have cast doubt on its effectiveness and safety.
Bolsonaro cited Trump’s own decision to take the related drug hydroxychloroquine preventively as evidence of its benefits.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS