September 13 coronavirus news

New Zealand will extend its current coronavirus restrictions for another week as the country reported one new case on Monday.

“Cabinet has decided on a short extension to the current restrictions of alert level 2.5 for Auckland and level 2 for the rest of the country,” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a news briefing.
“For Auckland, cabinet will review the current level 2.5 settings at our meeting on Monday the 21st of September with a view to increase gathering limits for Auckland if we are in a similar position for containing the cluster,” she said.

If that change was agreed, the new measures would come into effect on September 23, according to Ardern.

“As we know more cases will emerge from this cluster’s tail, these cases can still continue to pose risks,” she warned.

Under the extended restrictions in Auckland, social gatherings are limited to 10 people while businesses can open as long as they follow social distancing guidelines. 

Ardern said the cabinet had agreed “in principle” that the rest of New Zealand outside of Auckland will move to level 1 restrictions at 11:59 p.m. on September 21, as long as cases continue to “track as they are and maintaining the containment we have seen.”

She also praised New Zealand’s testing efforts. “Over 100,000 tests have taken place nationwide that have not shown any spread of the virus to date in other parts of New Zealand, despite the resumption of inter-regional travel,” she said.

So far, New Zealand has reported a total of 1,447 coronavirus infections and 24 deaths.

This year has given us yet another trick and one less treat.

Just Born Quality Confections, the company that produces Peeps, says its holiday-themed marshmallow treats will not be in Halloween candy baskets this year – and they won’t be in stores for Christmas, either.

Halloween Peeps – which are shaped like pumpkins, ghosts and monsters – and Christmas Peeps will not return to stores until 2021. The company will skip Valentine’s Day Peeps next year as well.

Saving for Easter: The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based company in April temporarily suspended the production of its candy brands. The suspension was done to protect the health and safety of their employees during the coronavirus pandemic, Just Born said in a statement to CNN.

The company said it resumed limited production in May after making changes in its plant to ensure employee safety.

“This situation resulted in us having to make the difficult decision to forego production of our seasonal candies for Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day in order to focus on meeting the expected overwhelming demand for Peeps for next Easter season, as well as our everyday candies,” according to the company’s statement.

Chick-shaped Peeps are especially popular during Easter. Before the pandemic, about 5.5 million Peeps were produced every day, roughly 2 billion a year.

The pause in production also applies to seasonal varieties of the company’s Hot Tamales and Mike and Ike fruit candies.

New York state’s Covid-19 infection rate has been below 1% for 37 straight days, according to a statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office Sunday.

“Our numbers continue to reflect the work of New Yorkers, who ultimately flattened the curve,” Cuomo said. “For 37 days, our infection rate has remained below one percent, which is incredible when you think back to where we were in the spring. As we head into the fall and flu season ahead, we need everyone to continue to wear masks, socially distance and wash their hands, and above all, stay New York tough.”

New York reported 725 new cases and six deaths on Sunday, bringing statewide totals to 444,365 cases, including 25,390 deaths.

The World Health Organization received reports of 307,930 new Covid-19 cases worldwide in the past 24 hours – the highest single-day increase in global infections since the pandemic began.

The previous daily high was set on September 6, when 306,857 cases were reported.

The total number of cases that have been reported to the WHO from around the globe now stands at 28,637,952.

There were also 5,537 new coronavirus deaths reported to the WHO over the past 24 hours, bringing the global death toll to at least 917,417.

CNN is tracking worldwide coronavirus cases here:

The Czech Republic reported a single-day high in new coronavirus infections, with 1,541 new cases recorded on Saturday, according to its Health Ministry.

The spike in cases coincides with increased testing, with an average of 15,000 people being tested every day. On Friday alone, 18,200 people were tested for the virus.

The Czech Republic’s total Covid-19 caseload now stands at 35,401, with 453 deaths.

Australia’s Victoria state recorded 35 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, according to Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services.

This is the state’s lowest daily increase in infections since June 26, according to statistics from the department.

The total number of cases confirmed in Victoria now stands at 19,870. Seven deaths were also recorded on Sunday, bringing the total death toll in the state to 730.

Protests: Over the weekend, anti-lockdown protests were held in Melbourne, leading to the arrest of at least 88 people. Video of the demonstrations showed police in riot gear arresting protesters in the streets while onlookers chanted “freedom.”

On Sunday night, Victoria also began slowly lifting certain coronavirus lockdown restrictions, according to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. In Melbourne, playgrounds and outdoor fitness equipment have been reopened, while those living alone or single parents are allowed to have one other person in their home.

Israel approved a second general lockdown Sunday evening as coronavirus cases surge across the country. The lockdown, which is expected to start Friday afternoon, will see the country return to many of the same severe restrictions of the first lockdown back in April. 

Schools, restaurants (except delivery), and entertainment venues will all close, as well as other businesses, for an initial period of three weeks. The public sector will operate with a limited workforce, while private sector businesses can operate as long as non-employees do not enter the workspace. 

People will be required to stay within 500 meters of their home. Emergency services, as well as pharmacies and food stores will remain open. Outdoor gatherings will be limited to 20 people, while indoor gatherings will be limited to ten. 

Restrictions will be eased once Israel records a sharp decline in infection rates, though no number has been put on what might constitute such a decline. 

At a cabinet meeting earlier Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s coronavirus czar had raised “a red flag regarding the ability of the health system to handle the challenges that are upon us, and [thus] the need to take the necessary steps as a result.”  

By the numbers: Netanyahu announced the lockdown after coronavirus cases surged last week, hitting a record of 4,217 new cases in 24 hours on Thursday, the third day in a row with more than 4,000 new cases recorded.

The number of patients in serious condition has also steadily climbed, reaching a high of 513 serious cases and 138 on ventilators as of Saturday. 

Florida’s health department reported 2,431 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the state’s total number of cases to 663,994. 

Florida also reported eight new Covid-19 related deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the state to 12,608. 

One thing to note: These numbers were released by the Florida Department of Health and may not line up exactly in real time with CNN’s database drawn from Johns Hopkins University and the Covid Tracking Project 

There are at least 6,496,159 cases of coronavirus in the US and at least 193,787 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

As of Sunday afternoon, 10,945 new cases and 94 new deaths have been reported in the US since midnight.     

The totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as repatriated cases.    

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said there is “quite good chance” the team testing his company’s vaccine candidate for Covid-19 will know whether it works by the end of October. 

“In our best case, we have quite a good chance, more than 60%, that we will know if the product works or not by the end of October,” he said on CBS today. “But of course, that doesn’t mean that it works. It means that we will know if it works.” 

When asked whether people would have to wait until 2021 to actually get the vaccine, Bourla said that he didn’t know how long it would take for regulators to approve it.

“We have a good chance that we will know if the product works by the end of October. Then, of course, it is (the) regulator’s job to issue (a) license or not,” he said.

Pfizer has already started manufacturing vaccine and he said hundreds of thousands of doses have already been made. 

More details: Bourla said vaccine distribution will be a problem. Shipping medicines is complex, particularly when they need special storage conditions. But he said Pfizer already knows how to do it very well. 

As for who gets the vaccine, Bourla said that is something the authorities should decide, for example, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Major League Baseball and the players association announced Sunday that the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres will play in a doubleheader on Sunday after the team’s games were cancelled Friday and Saturday due to a Giants player testing positive for Covid-19. 

MLB and the union’s committee reviewed the case and determined the initial positive test “did not represent an actual infection or present a risk to other personnel.” 

The United Kingdom reported 3,330 new coronavirus cases as of Sunday morning as England prepares for new restrictions to go into effect Monday after a recent rise in the infection rate.

Five more people have died, bringing the total death toll from Covid-19 to 41,628, the UK said.

In an interview with CNN today, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that he “unquestionably” would have acted sooner against the coronavirus if he had known what President Trump knew in early February, as detailed in Bob Woodward’s upcoming book.

Here’s the exchange:

TAPPER: ”This week, we learned from reporter Bob Woodward that President Trump was aware of the serious threat posed by the coronavirus in early February, even as he repeatedly downplayed it and dismissed it in public.
You issued your first stay-at-home order more than a month later, March 19. Do you think, if you had known in early February what we now President Trump knew, you would have acted sooner?”
GARCETTI: ”Unquestionably.
And, look, you put it great in the opening. This was a rough week for the President, because he’s failing on the basics, the basics of supporting our troops, the basics of responding to a fire, the basics of managing the worst health pandemic that we have had.
We were the first city to close things down, the first city to offer widespread testing. But we had to go it alone. And we heard that consistently. That’s up to the states. That’s up to the local governments.
I had firefighters providing tests to people, volunteers who would give their time because we had no leadership at the national level.
And, yes, if we had known and had leadership that didn’t say, calm, but actually allowed us to do the work and provided us the resources to do so, we would have taken action much earlier, and thousands of lives in my city and, obviously, maybe tens of thousands, if not 100,000 lives in America could have been saved.”

India’s parliament will resume its work on Monday amid increasing coronavirus numbers in the country.

As per the notification released by authorities, Lok Sabha (the lower house) and Rajya Sabha (the upper house) will begin the monsoon session on Monday with various Covid-19 protocols. The session will end on Oct. 1.

Every member of the Parliament along with his or her immediate family members and support staff will have to undergo testing for Covid-19 within 72 hours before the commencement of the session on Monday, the notification said. Only those members who will have a negative report for all tested in family and staff members will be allowed to attend the session.

The timings for the sitting of both houses have also been changed, the notification added.

To minimize Covid-19 transmission risks due to multiple handling of papers, all parliamentary papers will be available electronically for the members and instead of biometric, attendance will be marked using a mobile application developed by India’s National Information Centre, the notification added.

As per the official data, India has recorded a total of 4,754,356 coronavirus cases including 78,586 deaths since the pandemic began.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro defended President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic amid revelations from journalist Bob Woodward’s upcoming book detailing the President’s efforts to downplay the virus in its early stages.

When asked about the audio tape of Trump’s comment in early February to Woodward about the virus being more deadly than the flu, yet denying this two weeks later in a White House briefing, Navarro hailed the President for halting travel to the US from China in what he called “a signal” from Trump that “this is a serious, serious matter.” 

“It basically was hope for the best, prepare for the worst, stay calm and begin to attack this virus from China on four different vectors,” Navarro told CNN today.

Navarro had privately warned White House officials early about the seriousness of the virus. He pointed to a memo he said he wrote on Feb. 9 saying, among other things, that the US could have a vaccine by the end of the year “if we start right now.” He said he wrote this “under the advice of the President in terms of getting on this situation because it might be serious.” 

Navarro claimed that in the early days of the pandemic, the US was in the “fog of war” and alleged there were “competing views as to whether this is simply the flue or whether this is very serious” at the time, despite the President’s own comments, which were recorded on tape by Woodward.

Ohio State University plans to cancel spring break next year to reduce the exposure of its students, faculty and staff to coronavirus. 

Instead of the traditional spring break, there will be two days without classes on Feb. 9 and March 31, according to an email from executive vice president and provost Bruce A. McPheron to students and faculty. 

The university said this will “keep our community together throughout the semester and reduce travel-related exposures.”

The first week of classes of the second semester, beginning Jan. 11, will also entirely be online to give students time to quarantine before any in-person classes. Ohio State classes currently operate through a mix of in-person and online sessions, the university said.

“While there were many adjustments to our plans over the summer, we hope that our experience this semester will allow for a smoother and more predictable plan heading into spring semester,” McPheron said.

What the numbers look like: Between Aug. 14 and Sept. 10, there were 2,097 students and 28 employees who tested positive for coronavirus, according to the university.

With talk of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate heating up, you might have heard the term emergency use authorization — or EUA — all over the news lately. But what is it exactly, and how does it apply to vaccines?

Emergency use authorization is what its name suggests: a medical product that gets special authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used during an emergency. Sometimes it’s a product that has already been FDA-approved, but for another condition, and sometimes it’s a new product that hasn’t yet received the agency’s green light.

There is a lot of ongoing concern and debate about whether any vaccine candidate should be granted an EUA — or outright approval — without first completing phase 3 clinical trials.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the FDA has granted EUAs many times to a wide range of medical products, such as ventilators; personal protective equipment, including masks; molecular and antigen tests to diagnose Covid-19, and serologic tests to look for antibodies; and even treatments, such as remdesivir and convalescent plasma.

French engineer-virologist Thomas Mollet looks at 24 well plates adherent cells monolayer infected with a Sars-CoV-2 virus at the Biosafety level 3 laboratory (BSL3) of the Valneva SE Group headquarters in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, western France, on July 30, 2020. - Could the Covid-19 vaccine be found by a biotechnology company in western France, far from major global research centers? The hypothesis is more than plausible for the British government, which has just signed an important agreement with it. (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / AFP) (Photo by JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article This process will determine how quickly we get a coronavirus vaccine

Iran registered 2,089 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections across the country to 402,029, according to data from the Health Ministry registered.

The ministry also reported 128 new Covid-19 deaths, bringing death toll to 23,157.

Iran was one of the first countries to be badly hit by the virus. At one point it was among the countries with the highest case counts globally.

It’s the first NFL Sunday of the season, which typically signals the start of tailgating, fantasy football trash talk and Scott Hanson of “NFL Red Zone” gracing your television screen.

However, things will be very different this year.

There will be no fans in most stadiums to start the year, and you may not see some of your favorite players suit up due to the pandemic.

There were some doubts that the NFL would be able to kick off its season as scheduled due to the pandemic, but the league was able to get through training camp and start the season as planned on Thursday night.

While the league plans to play out the season as scheduled, things could quickly change with thousands of new coronavirus cases still being reported across the US.

For a full-contact sport like football – in which it’s virtually impossible to avoid being close to others, even under the strictest guidelines – it is all but certain more players will test positive for the coronavirus, experts say.

Read more about what to expect from this extraordinary season here.

It’s been five months since Lucy Gahan contracted Covid-19, and her life still hasn’t returned to normal.

Gahan, a clinical psychologist in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom, hasn’t been able to return to work.

The disease causes what she calls “storms,” disabling periods when she feels shortness of breath, numbness in her hands and feet and her heart rate shoots up from simple tasks. Even taking a shower is possible only during an occasional respite in symptoms.

“In May and June, I could barely talk because I was so ill,” she said.

Before contracting the disease in early April, the mother of two ran three times a week and had a regular yoga routine.

“I can only walk as far as the corner,” she said. “In terms of running, I can’t imagine when that will happen, if ever.”

She is one of thousands around the world for whom Covid-19 has turned into a chronic condition. Gahan and other Covid-19 “long haulers” feel they aren’t yet getting recognition for an illness that has disabled them for months, with no end in sight.

Six months after contracting Covid-19, fitness consultant Corey Coopersmith now uses a CPAP machine to help push enough air into his lungs.

Related article Months after Covid-19 infection, patients report breathing difficulty and fatigue

South Korea will ease the strict social distancing measures imposed in the greater Seoul Metropolitan area, returning to a looser regime, the South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday.

The strict measures have been in place since August 30 and were due to expire this Sunday.

The government has decided to adjust the measures to level two for two weeks until September 27. The new regime will see franchise cafes and ice cream shops able to provide sit-in services again. Restaurants and bakeries will no longer need to close between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m as long as they maintain precautionary measures such as keeping the log books and ensuring enough distance between tables, Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said in a briefing on Sunday.

Food and snack services and the entry of minors will continue to be banned at Internet cafes. 

Under the level-two restrictions, indoor gatherings are limited to 50 people and outdoor gatherings to 100 people, Park said. High-risk facilities such as bars, clubs, singing rooms and door-to-door sales services will be unable to operate, according to the Health Minister.

South Korea reported 121 new coronavirus cases from Saturday, of which 99 are local cases, according to a statement by the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday.

South Korea currently has 22,176 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 358 deaths from the virus.

At least 74 people were arrested on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia during the second day of anti-lockdown protests, according to Victoria Police.

The police issued at least 176 infringement notices for breaching the Chief Health Officer directions, Victoria Police told CNN in a statement.

Lockdown in the state is set to start easing on Sunday night.

“Police were disappointed that many protesters were aggressive and threatened violence towards officers,” the statement said.

Police said a 44-year-old man believed to be a “primary agitator” for the protests remains in police custody and is expected to be charged with incitement. His home will also be subject to a search warrant, police said.

Video of the demonstrations showed police in riot gear arresting protesters in the streets while onlookers chanted “freedom.” 

As of Sunday, Victoria has 19,835 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 723 deaths. 

The Australian state of Victoria will begin slowly lifting certain coronavirus lockdown restrictions on Sunday night as new infection numbers continue to drop, according to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

“From 11.59 p.m. Melbourne moves from Stage Four to the First Step of the roadmap for reopening, with modest changes including more social interaction and more time outside,” Andrews said in a statement.

In Melbourne, playgrounds and outdoor fitness equipment will reopen, outdoor exercise time will be extended to two hours split over a maximum of two sessions, and those living alone or single parents will be allowed to have one other person in their home, according to Andrews.

Outside of Melbourne, regional Victoria will move from stage three restrictions to the second step of the roadmap, which allows up to five people from a maximum of two households to gather in outdoor public places. “Outdoor pools and playgrounds in regional Victoria will also open. And religious services can be conducted outside with a maximum of five people, plus a faith leader,” the statement said.

Victoria’s state of emergency and state of disaster, however, will be extended for four more weeks.

“The State of Emergency ensures we have all the tools we need to fight this virus – keeping all of us safe,” Andrews said.

Victoria recorded 41 new Covid-19 cases and 7 deaths on Saturday, down from its peak of 686 new daily cases in early August.

Six students at Miami University in Ohio were cited for violating a city ordinance on mass gatherings after they held a house party despite at least one of them testing positive for Covid-19, according to police records.

Body camera video from the Oxford Police Department shows an officer approaching a group of men gathered on the porch of a home near the university’s campus on September 5, asking them who lives there.

One student replies that eight people lived in the house and that at the time about 20 people were inside. Both indoor and outdoor mass gatherings in Oxford involving people who don’t live together are limited to 10 people, per the city’s ordinance.

The officer tells the student to disperse the crowd gathered at the house, and eventually asks to see his ID. After scanning it, he calls the student over.

“I’ve never seen this before, there’s an input on the computer that you tested positive for Covid?” the officer asks.
“Yes,” the student answered, adding “This was, um, a week ago.”

The officer asks the student whether he was supposed to be quarantining, and the student said that’s why he was at home.

“Do you have other people here and you’re positive for Covid? You see the problem?” the officer asks.

Other people at the house had also tested positive for the virus, the student told the officer.

Six people, five of whom lived at the house, were issued a citation, according to the police report. The Oxford Police Department told CNN in an email that fines for the citations start at $500.

Five of those cited are listed in Miami University’s web directory as students. The police report indicates that the sixth person identified himself as a student who had moved in with his parents and was visiting for the weekend.

Read the full story:

Body camera video from the Oxford Police Department shows a group of men gathered on the porch of a home near the university's campus on September 5. CNN has blurred the faces of those pictured to protect their identity.

Related article Ohio college students were cited after hosting a house party despite testing positive for Covid-19

Doctors have warned that bad air quality stemming from smoke produced by the wildfires ravaging Western states could make people more vulnerable to coronavirus infections.

“Multiple studies have shown a correlation between higher levels of pollution in the air and greater spread and severity of Covid-19 cases,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer of the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, citing several studies conducted in the United States, China and Italy.
“Some studies have also shown that exposure of lung tissue to pollution may increase susceptibility to viral infections.”

What’s the reason for this? Smoke from wildfires can irritate the lungs and cause inflammation that can affect the immune system, said Dr. Rekha Murthy, an infectious disease specialist at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. That inflammation can make people more at risk of lung infections.

“Whenever the lining of the lung or the airways become inflamed or damaged, it increases the potential for inhaled viral particles to take hold in the lungs and cause infection,” Murthy said.

There are also concerns that smoke-filled air will drive coronavirus-positive people indoors, CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen said. That, she said, could potentially increase the spread of the virus.

“We know being outdoors versus indoors reduces the rate of transmission … but now people are being told you have to go indoors because you don’t want to breathe in the air that could cause respiratory issues,” she said. “But you don’t want to be indoors with other individuals and have a higher rate of contracting Covid-19… so, it’s really a catch-22.”

To prevent the possible spread of coronavirus during the intense fire season, those remaining indoors due to poor air quality should stay away from anyone who is not in their immediate household, Wen said.

Read the full story:

A medic takes a swab for a COVID-19 test from a Washington State University Student at a mobile test site run by the Washington Army National Guard and Air National Guard on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020, in Pullman, Wash. Tuesday was the mobile test site's first day of operation in Pullman. (Geoff Crimmins/Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)

Related article Air pollution from the wildfires can make people more vulnerable to coronavirus, doctors say

Japan recorded 649 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing its total caseload to 75,980, the Japanese Health Ministry reported Sunday.

The country also reported 16 new deaths on Saturday. So far, 1,451 people have died from the coronavirus in Japan, and 190 patients remain critically ill with the virus, according to the ministry.

Japan has been grappling with a second wave of infections since July, with more than 1,000 cases recorded daily during its peak in August.

Its capital Tokyo is among the worst-hit cities. On Saturday, Tokyo recorded 226 new cases, bringing the city’s total number of infections to 22,857.

India reported more than 94,000 new coronavirus cases Sunday morning, making it the fourth day in a row the country has seen more than 90,000 new cases.

According to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the country recorded 94,551 new Covid-19 cases and 1,114 new deaths due to the virus.

As per the official data, India has recorded a total of 4,754,356 coronavirus cases including 78,586 deaths since the pandemic began.

Of the total cases in India, 3,702,595 patients have recovered while 973,175 are still infected due to the virus. 

India reported 97,570 new coronavirus cases Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – the third day in a row the country has set a global record for daily infections.

India’s total number of confirmed cases stands at 4.65 million, of which about 958,316 are active. The total number of recovered patients stands at more than 3.6 million.

The nationwide death toll is 77,472, according to the health ministry.

The ministry also reported 1,091,251 Covid-19 tests were performed Friday, bringing the country’s total number of tests to 55,189,226.

India is the second-worst hit country in terms of total cases, behind only the United States.

The health department in Ingham County, Michigan, has “strongly” recommended that all local Michigan State University students “self-quarantine immediately to contain a Covid-19 outbreak.”

There are at least 342 individuals affiliated with the university who have tested positive for the virus since August 24.

At least a third of new cases are individuals who recently attended parties or social gatherings, and at least a third of those gatherings are associated with a fraternity or sorority, the health department said Saturday in a statement.

Only 23 university-affiliated people tested positive for the virus in the three weeks before the case surge. The increase in cases began as students returned to East Lansing for their fall semester. 

“Although MSU classes are predominately online, many students had binding off-campus leases or simply desired to physically return to the university community,” the statement said. “Self-quarantine should last for 14 days, continuing until 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, September 26. This recommendation is not an emergency order; however, more stringent and mandatory restrictions will be imposed if students do not comply and break the transmission cycle.”

Nadhim Shaker, one of Iraq’s most famous soccer stars in the 1970s and 1980s, has died in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil from Covid-19, health officials told CNN on Saturday.

Shaker, 63-years-old, who was one of the most talented defenders in Iraqi football history and a former Iraq national team coach, died in a local hospital on Friday.

“Iraqi sport has lost one of its bright symbols, who presented achievements to the homeland, worked hard to develop the sport, and spread joy in Iraqis’ hearts.” Iraqi President Barham Salih tweeted Saturday.

Iraq has recorded 286,778 coronavirus cases and 7,941 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Oxford University coronavirus vaccine trials will resume after being halted Sunday after an unexplained illness in one of its volunteers, the university said in a statement today.

The university, which is working with drug giant AstraZeneca, did not say what day the trial would resume.

“Globally some 18,000 individuals have received study vaccines as part of the trial. In large trials such as this, it is expected that some participants will become unwell and every case must be carefully evaluated to ensure careful assessment of safety,” the statement said.