NEW DELHI (AP) — India reported more than 83,000 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, showing some decline after reaching a record a week earlier.
The country has now confirmed more than 5.6 million cases. The health ministry also reported 1,085 new fatalities, raising the death toll to 90,020.
India is expected to become the world’s worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, where nearly 6.9 million people have been infected by the virus.
But the past week has seen some improvement in India, with the numbers dropping after a record 97,894 new cases were reported on Sept. 16.
Balram Bhargava, director-general of the Indian Council for Medical Research, said Tuesday that vaccines with at least 50% efficacy will be approved for use against the coronavirus. That’s the benchmark set by the World Health Organization, as no vaccine for respiratory diseases is 100% effective, Bhargava told reporters.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— Xi Jinping, China’s president and the leader of its Communist Party, cast the fight against the virus as an important exercise in international cooperation, an opportunity to “join hands and be prepared to meet even more global challenges.” Xi took oblique potshots at the United States and its foreign policies, cautioning in a U.N. address Tuesday that the world must “not fall into the trap of a clash of civilizations” — remarks played minutes after delegates heard U.S. President Donald Trump insist that the United Nations “hold China accountable” for how it handled the emergence of the coronavirus. While Xi, being prerecorded and not there, could not rebut what Trump said, his U.N. ambassador was in the General Assembly chamber and responded directly while introducing the Xi video.
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.