(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is “doing very well” and is fever-free at a military hospital where he is being treated for COVID-19, the president’s doctor said. But a person familiar with the situation said some of Trump’s vital signs over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread of COVID-19, open https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/ in an external browser.
* Eikon users, see MacroVitals cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?navid=1592404098 for a case tracker and summary of news.
AMERICAS
* Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has tested positive for coronavirus and will be receiving medical attention, Christie wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
* U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, next in line for the Oval Office, tested negative for COVID-19, hours after Trump announced that he was infected and went into quarantine, Pence’s spokesman said on Friday.
* Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis shows the importance of taking the pandemic seriously, telling Americans that wearing masks is more important than being a “tough guy.”
ASIA-PACIFIC
* India’s coronavirus death toll passed 100,000 on Saturday, only the third country in the world to reach that milestone, after the United States and Brazil, and its epidemic shows no sign of abating.
* South Korean police mobilised hundreds of buses to head off any political rallies in Seoul on Saturday, with authorities determined to prevent another cluster of coronavirus cases emerging from a protest.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* Schools, libraries, mosques and other public institutions in Tehran were closed for a week on Saturday as part of measures to stem a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, state media cited authorities in the Iranian capital as saying.
EUROPE
* Police set up controls and stopped cars on major roads into and out of Madrid on Saturday as the city went back into lockdown due to surging coronavirus cases.
* Russia reported 9,859 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest number of daily infections since May 15, when the outbreak was at its peak.
MEDICAL DEVELOPMENTS
* A major non-profit health emergencies group has set up a global laboratory network to assess data from potential COVID-19 vaccines, allowing scientists and drugmakers to compare them and speed up selection of the most effective shots.
* A mass roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine in Britain could be finished in as little as three months, The Times reported, citing government scientists.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Global equity markets slumped and investors piled into safer gold and the Japanese yen after Trump and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus.
(Compiled by Frances Kerry)
