OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma has a big surge in new coronavirus cases, to a new daily high double the previous record-setting number two days earlier.
State health officials listed 450 new cases Thursday, compared to the previous one-day high of 229 reported Tuesday. The additional cases increased the state's total by 5.1% to 9,354 since the outbreak began.
Two deaths Thursday brought the Oklahoma Covid-19 death toll to 366.
Tulsa County continues as the state's leading Covid-19 hot spot with 120 new cases, for a total of 1,945. Second-place Oklahoma County reported 107 new cases, bringing its total to 1,861.
The new wave comes amid demonstrations to protest police killings of black citizens and an indoor Saturday rally planned by President Trump .
The Hague Bans Rally Protesting Lockdowns
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Security authorities in The Hague have banned a planned protest against coronavirus restrictions, saying the Sunday demonstration would endanger public health.
Mayor Johan Remkes wrote Friday that the event originally was to have drawn about 100 people but program changes that include performances by DJs have turned it into a festival that could attract up to 10,000. Such large-scale events are banned until Sept. 1 under the government's coronavirus measures.
Remkes said in a statement that the right to demonstrate in public is important, "but it is not unlimited."
He said the event planned for Sunday in the city’s Malieveld park would create "an illegal and dangerous situation."
Organizers called the event to protest the government's lockdown measures.
German Cases Jump on Slaughterhouse Outbreak
BERLIN — Germany's disease control center reported the highest daily increase in Covid-19 cases in a month, as positive tests from an outbreak at a slaughterhouse enter the statistics.
The Robert Koch Institute listed 770 new cases Friday, taking its total tally since the start of the outbreak to 188,534. It was the biggest daily increase since May 20.
The German government has stuck to its course of gradually reopening the country while seeking to clamp down swiftly on local outbreaks.
Authorities in the western county of Guetersloh are testing thousands of workers at a slaughterhouse. At least 730 people have already tested positive for the new coronavirus there.
Czech Republic Opens Up; Virus Cases Increase
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic has registered a spike in Covid-19 cases as the country eases pandemic restrictions.
The daily increase surpassed 100 for the first time since May 18 to reach 118 on Thursday.
A total of 10,283 cases have been confirmed and 334 people have died.
Australians Recover From Shipboard Infections
PERTH, Australia — A livestock ship loaded with 35,000 sheep has left Australia for the Middle East three weeks behind schedule due to half the crew becoming infected with the coronavirus.
The Al Kuwait left the west coast port of Fremantle on Friday bound for Kuwait after the federal government granted it an exemption from a ban on live sheep exports during the Northern Hemisphere summer and a court rejected an appeal by animal rights activists.
The Al Kuwait arrived at Fremantle from the United Arab Emirates on May 22 with plans to load the last shipment of sheep before the three-month export ban on animal welfare grounds took effect on June 1.
But more than 20 of its 48 crew members soon tested positive for the virus and were taken to a hospital and hotel rooms to recover. All have recovered and most left Fremantle with the ship.
Because of the higher risk to the sheep of heat stress during the summer, the number allowed to be exported under the ban exemption was slashed from the original cargo of 56,000 animals.
Japan and Vietnam Ease Restrictions
TOKYO — Japan and Vietnam have agreed to partially lift travel bans and ease restrictions as a way to reopen economic and bilateral exchanges between the two Asian nations where coronavirus infections have been largely under control.