Coronavirus update: Pandemic brings hard times for farmers, worsening hunger. Get the latest.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought hard times for many farmers and has imperiled food security for many millions both in the cities and the countryside.
United Nations experts are holding an online conference beginning Tuesday to brainstorm ways to help alleviate hunger and prevent the problems from worsening in the Asia-Pacific region — a challenge made doubly difficult by the loss of many millions of jobs due to the crisis.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization forecasts that the number of undernourished people will increase by up to 132 million in this year, while the number of acutely malnourished children will rise by 6.7 million worldwide due to the pandemic. Read the full story here:
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- Tugging on their masks or dashing to hug long-unseen friends, millions of children returned to school across Europe and beyond Tuesday in a mass experiment aimed at bridging inequalities and resuscitating economies — despite the persistent pandemic.
- The unemployment rate across the 19 countries that use the euro currency rose modestly to 7.9% in July, official figures showed Tuesday. The number of people losing their jobs has been held down by temporary government job-support programs and the relaxation of some coronavirus containment measures.
- Russia’s tally of confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Tuesday as authorities reported 4,729 new cases. With a total of 1,000,048 reported cases, Russia has the fourth largest caseload in the world after the U.S., Brazil and India.
- Many Indian states eased lockdown restrictions on Tuesday, allowing more businesses and public areas to reopen to reduce economic pain caused by the coronavirus, even as the country’s new daily infections remain the highest in the world and its confirmed cases near 3.7 million.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how the Earth can recover “if we allow it to rest” and must spur people to adopt simpler lifestyles to help a planet “groaning” under the constant demand for economic growth, Pope Francis said Tuesday.
- The federal Bureau of Prisons will begin allowing inmates to have visitors again in October, almost seven months after visits were suspended at the 122 federal prisons across the U.S., according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press.
- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday signed a 15-day extension of the order that mandates requirements on social distancing, bans on gatherings of more than 50 people unless there is six feet between each person and lists other rules about operating businesses and nonprofit groups.
- Hong Kong tested thousands of people for coronavirus Tuesday at the start of a mass-testing effort that’s become another political flash point in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for a Q&A on face shields and the latest virus numbers.
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Q&A
Can I use a face shield instead of a mask?
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