ROME Italys former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for the coronavirus after a precautionary check.
His press office says he’s currently isolated in his Arcore residence, near Milan. Hell continue to work from there as he completes the necessary quarantine period.
The three-time-premier and media tycoon had been recently pictured with his friend and businessman Flavio Briatore, who was recently hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus last month. The 83-year-old Berlusconi had tested negative at the time.
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HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK
Depression, anxiety spike amid outbreak and turbulent times
European CDC says virus spread slow in schools so far
Britain PM Johnson resists calls to extend worker wages
Health departments say they lack the staff, money and tools to distribute, administer and track millions of vaccines, most of which will require two doses, when a vaccine becomes available.
Second Trump administration appointee has been ousted at the FDA after the agencys botched announcement about an experimental therapy for COVID-19
The NFL updated its game day protocols by requiring every coach and staff member in the bench area to wear a mask and reducing the size of each teams travel party.
Follow APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
ROME Italy registered a new surge in coronavirus infections, which rose by 1,326 on Wednesday.
Thats up from 978 a day before, according to the latest Health Ministry figures.
The data confirm the rising trend in new cases observed in the country over the past month, but also reflect the wider number of swab tests performed daily, which for the first time topped the 100,000 level. The testing reached almost 103,000 in the past 24 hours.
Italy now has 271,515 confirmed infections and 35,497 known deaths, including six in the last day.
Health experts are encouraging Italy to boost testing and tracing of contacts of the newly infected before schools open on Sept. 14.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates has reported 735 cases of coronavirus, the countrys highest one-day increase in over three months.
That brings the total number of recorded infections to 71,540 and 387 confirmed deaths. Students are returning to schools across the country for in-person instruction and tourists are trickling back to the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai.
The steadily rising infections have some concerned that authorities could reinstate lockdowns in parts of the country.
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YANGON, Myanmar Parts of Myanmars largest city, Yangon, returned to lockdown on Wednesday, after an increase in cases of the coronavirus.
Authorities imposed a stay-at-home order on seven townships and set up checkpoints to prevent entry. The order exempts those working for government organizations and people working in companies, factories and workshops.
Only one person from a family is allowed out shopping, while a maximum of two people are permitted to go for medical treatment. Authorities say offenders will face legal action.
Myanmar has seen a recent rise in confirmed cases of coronavirus, with most occurring in Rakhine State, where a lockdown and curfew were imposed last week.
There have been 163 new cases reported since Monday nationwide, bringing the total to 938 and six deaths.
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BRUSSELS — The head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says the coronavirus doesnt seem to be spreading significantly in schools that opened early in Europe.
Many students returned to classrooms around Europe this week, but some partly opened before the end of June. A few countries, such as Germany, opened their doors for the new school year in August.
ECDC director Andrea Ammon told EU lawmakers Wednesday that anti-virus measures like social-distancing, hand washing, avoiding mass gatherings and the confinement of suspect cases among students and staff should be enough to limit the spread of the disease. She made no mention of wearing masks.
Ammon says, closing the schools should be really the last measure that you take.
Belgium has one of the highest per capita death rates in the world from the coronavirus. Nearly 10,000 people have died in a country of 11.5 million. Belgium has 85,393 cases, according to the ECDC.
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JOHANNESBURG The United Nations refugee agency says Ugandas government has locked down a refugee camp of more than 100,000 people after an outbreak of the coronavirus.
The lockdown imposed a week ago on the Kyangwali settlement comes amid growing concerns about infections in vulnerable refugee camps around the world. A U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman says Kyangwali has had 24 confirmed virus cases, including one death.
Uganda hosts one of the worlds largest number of refugees. At least 89 refugees in camps across the East African country have tested positive for the virus. Uganda has had a total of more than 3,000 confirmed virus cases.
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LONDON British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is resisting calls to extend a government program that has paid the wages of millions of workers laid off during the coronavirus lockdown.
Since April, the government has paid 80% of the salaries of furloughed employees. The program has supported almost 10 million workers but is due to end on Oct. 31.
Opposition parties have called for its extention. Scottish National Party lawmaker Ian Blackford says failing to do so would bring levels of unemployment last seen under (Prime Minister Margaret) Thatcher in the early 1980s.
Answering questions in the House of Commons, Johnson says the government had spent 40 billion pounds ($53 billion) on the program but continuing it indefinitely would keep workers in suspended animation.
Johnson says, indefinite furlough is just not the answer. He says the government was helping people with other programs, including a Kickstart scheme that will subsidize companies to hire young people.
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LANSING, Mich. A task force says Michigan should modify a system in which nursing home residents infected with the coronavirus can be treated and isolated in those facilities.
The group was created by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to prepare for a potential second surge of the coronavirus. Nursing home residents account for 31% of Michigans confirmed or probable deaths related to the virus.
Of the 28 recommendations, nearly half involve ways to improve the quality of life inside homes that had to stop communal dining and restrict visits. The panel urged allowing outdoor and window visits, limited communal dining and optional pod-like arrangements where residents could spend time together in small groups.
Other recommendations include prioritizing nursing homes for personal protective equipment and testing supplies, lessening data-reporting requirements and designating labs that give priority to specimens from the homes.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. A Ramsey County judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Tim Walzs executive orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
Thirteen Republican legislators and a group of businesses contended the Democratic governor abused his power and interfered with the legislative process when he closed schools, issued a mask mandate and limited businesses operations.
District Court Judge Thomas Gilligan upheld the governors actions Tuesday. A group called Free Minnesota Small Business Coalition argued the governor is usurping the powers of the Legislature. The Walz administration and DFL legislators have maintained that an emergency declaration is necessary to deal with the pandemic.
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MIAMI Officials say a cyberattack and a software glitch plagued Floridas largest school district during the first two days of its virtual start to the school year.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho says the district suffered a distributed denial of service attack Monday morning as a software glitch blocked access to the districts servers.
The Miami Herald reports the glitch and attack rendered multiple online school district features useless and teaching nearly impossible. Carvalho says the FBI and Secret Service have been called in and subpoenaed the school districts internet provider.
He adds the glitch has been resolved and didnt penetrate the districts servers.
It wasnt known who initiated the attack, but Carvalho says he wants those responsible prosecuted.
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MADRID Thousands of Spanish teachers and auxiliary staff are standing in long lines in the street in Madrid after being told to take a coronavirus test just days before the start of classes.
Labor groups say some 100,000 teachers were informed less than 24 hours beforehand about five locations in the city where they had to take the coronavirus tests. The tests are mandatory for school employees.
The tests are taking place between Wednesday and next Monday. School re-openings are staggered, with preschool starting Thursday. Older children go back next week.
The Madrid region is a coronavirus hot spot, with almost 32,000 new cases officially recorded in the past two weeks.
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HONG KONG Hong Kong will further relax social distancing measures from Friday, allowing gyms and massage parlors to reopen and extending dining-in hours at restaurants as new daily coronavirus infections dwindle to single digits.
Tough restrictions had been imposed in July when a new surge of coronavirus hit Hong Kong, temporarily shuttering such businesses and limiting public gatherings to two people. Daily infections have since steadily decreased from a peak of more than 100 in July to eight on Wednesday, the lowest number in two months.
Officials started easing measures last week, allowing cinemas and beauty salons to re-open with social distancing measures in place.
While gyms can operate from Friday, gym-goers must wear masks while exercising, and gym classes will only be restricted to four people, government officials said Wednesday.
Swimming pools, bars and karaoke lounges will remain closed.
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ATHENS, Greece Greek authorities are imposing a 14-day quarantine on the Moria migrant camp on the island of Lesbos after one man who had been living outside the official camp tested positive for the coronavirus.
The overcrowded Moria camp houses 12,714 people, well over its capacity of 2,757.
The Migration Ministry said Wednesday that 40-year-old Somali man had been granted refugee status and a residence permit to live in Greece, and had left the camp on July 17. However, he had returned in recent days and had been living in a tent outside the camp fence. He is currently hospitalized in isolation on the island.
The migration ministry said no entry or exit from the camp would be allowed until Sept. 15, while police presence will be increased around the camp to ensure the lockdown is not breached.
Health authorities said the mans contacts were being traced and all would be quarantined, while extensive coronavirus tests were being conducted on the camps residents.
Moria, by far the largest of the camps, had been free of confirmed COVID-19 cases until now.
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BERLIN Berlin prosecutors have thrown out hundreds of criminal complaints against a leader of one of Germanys governing parties over her use of the word covidiots to describe protesters who demonstrated against coronavirus restrictions without masks or social distancing.
Saskia Esken, a co-leader of the center-left Social Democrats, used the term in a tweet on Aug. 1 as around 20,000 people demonstrated in Berlin. Police ultimately ended the rally because organizers failed to get participants to keep their distance or wear masks.
Berlin prosecutors on Wednesday said they had decided against opening an investigation after receiving several hundred criminal complaints alleging slander.
They said Eskens use of the expression was covered by constitutionally protected freedom of expression.
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VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has held his first public general audience after a pause of nearly six months due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Francis used Wednesdays audience to call for solidarity as the way to exit the crisis.
Francis said: The current pandemic has highlighted our interdependence: We are all linked to each other, for better or for worse.
He added: To come out of this crisis better than before, we have to do so together, all of us, in solidarity.
About 500 faithful attended the audience in the Vaticans San Damaso courtyard.
Under strict safety rules, faithful kept social distances as they sat in the courtyard and were all required to wear masks. The Pope didnt wear one as he met the crowd, but kept a safety distance from the faithful, who were cheering and waving at him.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates says several schools across the country will switch to remote learning in response to suspected coronavirus outbreaks oamong employees, just days after schools reopened for in-person instruction.
The countrys National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority made the announcement Wednesday as the UAE reported 541 new coronavirus infections, its biggest one-day jump in almost two months. Virus cases in the Gulf country have been steadily rising in recent weeks, with 70,231 infections, including 384 deaths, reported by health authorities since the pandemic began.
Schools welcomed students back across the seven emirates on Sunday with conditions, including mandatory masks, social distancing and temperature checks.
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LONDON Some families of those who died in the pandemic are accusing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being heartless for refusing to meet with them.
Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, which represents more than 1,400 families, wants a public inquiry into the governments handling of the pandemic.
Organizers say Johnson previously agreed to meet with them, but on Wednesday they shared a letter in which the prime minister declined to do so.
Campaign co-founder Jo Goodman, who lost her father to the virus, says Johnson dodged five letters requesting a meeting and now he is “telling us hes too busy. Its heartless.
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NEW DELHI India registered 78,357 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, raising its total over 3.7 million as the government eases pandemic restrictions nationwide to help the battered economy.
India, a nation of 1.4 billion people, is fast becoming the worlds coronavirus epicenter. It has been reporting the highest daily increases in new cases for more than three weeks, and at its current rate is likely to soon pass Brazil and ultimately the United States in total reported cases.
The Health Ministry on Wednesday also reported 1,045 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 66,333. It now has the third-most deaths after recently passing Mexicos toll, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
Infections have been spreading fast from people in Indias big cities to smaller towns and rural areas.
Its testing capacity of nearly 100,000 per day has been increasing but experts say it is not enough.
On Wednesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research, Indias top medical research body, said the country had conducted nearly 44 million tests for the virus since the pandemic began.
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SEOUL, South Korea South Korea has recorded 267 additional cases of the coronavirus, marking a triple-digit daily jump for the 20th straight day that has forced local authorities to impose tough social distancing rules.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday the additional figures took the countrys tally to 20,449 that includes 326 deaths.
The agency says 253 of the new cases were locally infected patients, 187 of them in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
South Korea has seen a spike in infections since early last month, many associated with churches, restaurants, schools and a public rally. Authorities have recently restricted dining at restaurants and ordered the shutdowns of churches, fitness centers and night establishments in the Seoul area as it struggles to track many of the new infections.
The caseload has trended slightly downward in recent days, but health officials have urged the public to keep following strengthened social distancing guidelines.
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MELBOURNE, Australia Australias hot spot Victoria state on Wednesday extended its state of emergency for another six months as its weekly average of new COVID-10 infections dipped to 95.
The Victorian Parliaments upper chamber passed legislation by a 20-19 vote to extend the state of emergency, which enhances the governments powers to impose pandemic restrictions.
The government had wanted a 12-month extension.
The state health department reported 90 new infections and six deaths in the latest 24-hour period. There were only 70 new infections on Tuesday.
But the latest seven-day average has dropped into double-digits for the first time in weeks. The previous weeks average was 175 infections a day.
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