There are 54 million coronavirus cases around the world, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday.The U.S., India, and Brazil continue to top the list as the places with the most infections. The U.S. has almost 11 million cases, while India and Brazil have 8.8 million and 5.8 million, respectively.On Sunday, India reported 41,100 new infections in the previous 24-hour period.Mexico’s tally of coronavirus cases passed the 1-million-mark Saturday. Mexico has avoided issuing mask-wearing mandates or lockdowns. Masks “are an auxiliary measure to prevent spreading the virus,” Mexican Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell told the Associated Press, rejecting international public health experts’ pleas to wear masks to stop people from contracting and spreading the coronavirus. “They do not protect us,” Lopez-Gatell said of the masks, “but they are useful for protecting other people.” Hopkins reports Mexico has recorded more than 98,000 COVID-19 deaths. An uptick in cases in the U.S. has prompted the Navajo Nation to impose a three-week lockdown, beginning Monday.“The Navajo Nation is experiencing an alarming rise in positive COVID-19 cases and uncontrolled spread in 34 communities across the Navajo Nation,” the reservation’s Department of Health said in a public health order announcing the lockdown. “These cluster cases are a direct result of family gatherings and off-Reservation travel.”The Navajo health department reported Saturday that there are 13,249 COVID-19 infections on the massive reservation where almost 600 people have died from the virus.Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the world may be on the brink of a child mortality crisis as developing countries struggle in the battle against the coronavirus and struggle to pay their Western and Chinese creditors.Brown’s comments in The Observer, a British publication, come as the G-20 nations prepare to meet in a few days in Saudi Arabia. The nations may consider a temporary debt freeze for eligible countries as they fight the coronavirus.In Europe, the continent is facing another surge of the coronavirus and several countries have imposed tighter COVID-19 restrictions. Poland on Saturday reported a new daily record of about 550 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the country’s total to more than 10,000.Greece said Saturday that primary and nursery schools will be closed until the end of November. The country is currently in a nationwide lockdown because of increasing numbers of COVID cases and deaths, but young children’s schools had been allowed to open. Secondary schools and universities have been engaged in distance learning. Lebanon began a two-week lockdown Saturday to contain the spread of the virus, which has increased sharply in recent weeks and killed dozens over the past few days. A nighttime curfew has been expanded from sunset to sunrise, and driving has been prohibited on Sundays.
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