More than 6.25 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Here are the top 10 global developments this morning:
1. More than 6.25 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 375,000 people have died, including more than 105,000 in the US. At least 2.69 million have recovered from the disease.
2. New York’s Metropolitan Opera will reopen only for its traditional New Year’s Eve performance, cutting short its 2020/2021 season because of the coronavirus.
Due to the ongoing health crisis, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the first few months of the 2020–21 season. We expect to re-open our doors on December 31, 2020.
Learn more: https://t.co/rnT4n4gG3p pic.twitter.com/lUIb21Bmic
— Metropolitan Opera (@MetOpera) June 1, 2020
“Social distancing and grand opera simply don’t go together,” general manager Peter Gelb said in a video message.
3. Brazil’s Health Ministry has reported some 11,598 new cases of coronavirus and 623 deaths over the past 24 hours.
Brazil has the second-highest number of cases in the world (526,447) after the United States. Nearly 30,000 people have died from the disease.
4. The UN is appealing for $2.41bn to continue its humanitarian programmes in Yemen until the end of the year to prevent an unfolding “tragedy” driven by the coronavirus.
A UN-backed international pledging conference will take place later on Tuesday.
5. Masks and social distancing can help control the coronavirus but hand washing and other measures are still needed, a new study has found.
Researchers concluded single-layer cloth masks are less effective than surgical masks, while tight-fitting N95 masks provide the best protection, according to the study published in the medical journal, The Lancet.
6. South Korea will impose a new quick response (QR) code system to keep track of visitors to higher risk venues after a spike in coronavirus cases linked to a nightclub.
7. Wuhan Central Hospital doctor Hu Weifeng, who was diagnosed with coronavirus four months ago, has died, state media reported on Tuesday.
8. Singapore has begun to ease some of the so-called circuit breaker measures it introduced in March.
Some children are returning to school, about three-quarters of businesses have been allowed to reopen and restrictions on gathering eased to allow families to meet and small-scale religious services to take place.
The city state has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia, more than 90 percent of them among the more than 300,000 people brought from overseas to work in construction and other industries and housed in crowded worker dormitories.
9. The state of New South Wales, home to a third of Australians, is to open some sports facilities from the middle of June.
10. Health authorities in Spain have reported no new deaths from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours for the first time in nearly three months.