Apr 30, 2020 - World

Russian prime minister tests positive for coronavirus

Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on April 30. Photo: Alexei Druzhinin\TASS via Getty Images

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told President Vladimir Putin in a televised meeting on Thursday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Why it matters: Mishustin is one of just a handful of major elected world leaders to test positive for the virus. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tested positive in early April and was forced to step away from his work for several weeks, including for a stint in intensive care.

The big picture: Russia, which has been on lockdown since early March, has reported more than 100,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus but only 1,073 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins.

  • Russia overtook China and Iran in confirmed cases this week, though experts doubt whether any of these authoritarian countries are reporting accurate numbers.

Go deeper: Russia goes after coronavirus in latest health misinformation push

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Axios
Updated Oct 7, 2020 - Health

World coronavirus updates

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Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

New Zealand now has active no coronavirus cases in the community after the final six people linked to the Auckland cluster recovered, the country's Health Ministry confirmed in an email Wednesday.

The big picture: The country's second outbreak won't officially be declared closed until there have been "no new cases for two incubation periods," the ministry said. Auckland will join the rest of NZ in enjoying no domestic restrictions from late Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, declaring that NZ had "beat the virus again."

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Jacob Knutson
Aug 7, 2020 - Health

Africa records over 1 million coronavirus cases

A health worker in Nigeria checks students' temperatures on August 4. Photo: Pius Utomi Ekepei/AFP via Getty Images

African countries collectively surpassed 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases this week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

Why it matters: Some health experts believe that the true number of COVID-19 cases among African countries is higher than that figure due to a lack of testing, and fear that undetected cases could overload some of the world’s weakest health systems, according to AP.

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Axios
Updated 5 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Politics: McConnell urges White House not to strike stimulus deal before election — Republican senators defend Fauci as Trump escalates attacks.
  2. Economy: Why the stimulus delay isn't a crisis (yet).
  3. Health: Studies show drop in COVID death rate — The next wave is gaining steam — The overwhelming aftershocks of the pandemic.
  4. Education: Schools haven't become hotspots — University of Michigan students ordered to shelter-in-place.
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