One in 10 people around the world may have contracted Covid-19, the World Health Organization said, at a special meeting of WHO leaders. A top official said the estimate meant “the vast majority of the world remains at risk”. Just over 35m people have been confirmed as being infected with coronavirus – the WHO’s estimate puts the true figure at closer to 800m. Experts have long said the real number of cases would exceed those confirmed. The WHO is meeting at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss the global response to the pandemic. Ten months on, the crisis shows...

US President Donald Trump has spent his first night in a military hospital where he is receiving treatment after testing positive for coronavirus. “Going well, I think!” Mr Trump tweeted late on Friday. US media said his symptoms included a mild fever. He has so far been treated with an experimental drug cocktail injection and the antiviral medication remdesivir. In exactly one month, Mr Trump faces Joe Biden in the presidential election. The president’s diagnosis has upended his campaign and also cast doubt on his attempt to get a new Supreme Court judge confirmed before polling day. In a memorandum...

US President Donald Trump has said he and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus and are now in quarantine. The president, aged 74 and therefore in a high-risk group, announced the news in a tweet. “We will get through this together,” he wrote. It comes after one of his closest aides tested positive for coronavirus. Hope Hicks, the 31-year-old adviser to the president, was the closest aide to Mr Trump to test positive so far. She travelled with him on Air Force One to a TV debate in Ohio this week. Mr Trump’s physician Sean Conley released...

Kenya lost 2.3bn Kenyan shillings ($21m; £16m) during the procurement of Covid-19 items, according to a recent audit report. Auditor General Nancy Gathangu said managers at the state body responsible for purchases, the Kenya Medical Supply Authority (Kemsa) violated procurement rules leading to the loss of public money. The government ordered an investigation following a public outcry. Kemsa has denied that any money was stolen. The audit report says that Kemsa bosses colluded with companies that were given contracts. Some of the companies were registered around the time the country recorded its first Covid-19 case. Items were overpriced and some...

The Ghana Nigeria Business Council has issued a statement celebrating 60 years of Nigeria’s Independence. Below is a copy of the statement On this day we are celebrating 60 years of Nigeria’s Independence. Our big brother has won many victories over the years and they continue to be the beacon and light of our continent. Today we celebrate the land of Nigeria – rich in resources, fruit and vast beauty. We celebrate the culture of Nigeria – it’s vibrancy, influence and identity of the nation. We celebrate the brilliant people of Nigeria – hard-working Nigerians who are unapologetically proud of...

Nigeria has developed a Covid-19 test kit that can give results in less than 40 minutes and be used by low-skilled people. The Health Minister Olurunimbe Mamora said it is much faster and 10 times cheaper than the PCR testing method currently in use. The kit is yet to be approved by regulatory bodies but has raised hopes of boosting the country’s low testing rate. Nigeria has been importing key elements needed for coronavirus testing. The authorities said the test kit, known as SARS-COV-2 Isothermal Molecular Assay, was developed by Nigeria’s Institute of Medical Research. The head of Nigeria’s task...

The Covid-19 pandemic began last year in a city in central China, but has since grown to affect nearly every country on earth. The virus has put world leaders in hospital while exposing inequality. It has asked major questions of governments and encroached on the daily lives of billions. And it shows no signs of ending any time soon. As the number of deaths passes one million, we take a look at some of the landmarks along the way. 9 January 2020 – First reported death January was a big month for news – it saw the US assassinate an...

Armenia says one of its fighter jets was shot down by a Turkish jet in a major escalation of the conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Armenian foreign ministry said the pilot of the Soviet-made SU-25 died after being hit by the Turkish F-16 in Armenian air space. Turkey, which is backing Azerbaijan in the conflict, has denied the claim. Nearly 100 people, including civilians, have died in three days of fighting over the disputed mountainous region. The enclave is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but has been run by ethnic Armenians since a 1988-94 war between the...

South Africa’s economy lost 2.2 million jobs in the second quarter of 2020 during the country’s coronavirus lockdown, the authorities say. It is the biggest fall in job numbers since the employment survey began in 2008. Restrictions were brought in to try and prevent the spread of the virus and the economy subsequently shrank at an unprecedented level. Most businesses were shut for five weeks from 27 March. It was one of the strictest lockdowns in the world. The national statistics office’s figure for the number of people who have not been economically inactive indicated an even more dramatic economic...

Operations of South African Airways (SAA), the country’s national carrier, have been suspended with immediate effect. “This means SAA will complete repatriation flights that have already been scheduled but will not schedule any further flights,” Business Day news site reports. Administrators said they were putting the struggling state-owned carrier under “care and maintenance” until funding for a restructuring plan was found. The airline was put in bankruptcy protection in December after heavy financial losses in the past few years, which have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has not come up with more than 10.5bn rand ($621m; £483m)...