Health News at Your Fingertips

Confirmed deaths in Colombia due to Covid-19 passed 20,000 on Tuesday, the health ministry said in its daily update, while it has recorded more than 620,000 cases.

The Andean country has so far reported 20,052 deaths and 624,069 cases of the novel coronavirus. Active cases stand at 133,155. This week Colombia ended its initial quarantine measures after nearly five months of national lockdowns.

South America has been very badly affected by the pandemic, with Brazil the second worst hit country in the world after the United States.

Brazil has recorded 42,659 new cases of coronavirus and 1,215 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday night.

Brazil has registered a total 3,950,931 cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from Covid-19 has risen to 122,596.

Good morning/afternoon/evening wherever you are. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be keeping you updated with all the developments in the coronavirus from around the world for the next few hours.

You can contact me on Twitter at @MartinFarrer or by email at martin.farrer@theguardian.com

Here are the main points to get started:

• The Trump administration says it will not work with other countries to develop and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine. It said it did not want to be constrained by “multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China”.
• A leading UK oncologist who suggested that Covid-19 could “fizzle out” has been criticised by other experts. Prof Karol Sikora, dean of medicine at the University of Buckingham, made his “positive” prediction on BBC TV before other medics said the rapid rise in worldwide cases meant such an idea was “dangerous”.
• Hungary has closed its border again as infections continue to drive higher across Europe. The country has imposed tougher restrictions than during the spring lockdown and is now closed to almost everyone except Hungarian citizens and residents until at least next month. They must quarantine on arrival.
• Schools across Europe started to reopen on Tuesday after being closed for months. Tens of millions of pupils, most wearing face masks, have headed back to class in England, France, Belgium, Poland and Russia.
• Greece has delayed the reopening of schools by a week to 14 September because of a surge in infections. Holidaymakers returning to Wales from the Greek island of Z.ante are to be asked to quarantine for 14 days.
• Scotland has announced more local lockdowns, including limits on household gatherings. Also, people returning to Scotland from Greece will have to isolate.
• Brazil has almost 4 million cases. It recorded 42,659 new cases of coronavirus and 1,215 deaths in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Tuesday night and now has a total of 3,950,931 cases.
• The Australian state of Victoria has extended its state of emergency for another six months if it is needed. It recorded 90 cases on Tuesday and six deaths.
• The United Arab Emirates has recorded over 500 new Covid-19 infections for the second successive day, after a rise in cases in the Middle East financial hub.