The annual hajj has been dramatically downscaled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Belgium tightened its social distancing measures to try to halt what one expert called a "worrying" surge in cases. In Washington, meanwhile, the White House announced that another senior administration figure, national security advisor Robert O'Brien, had contracted the virus. Since emerging in China late last year, the virus has killed a total of 650,011 people -- but more than 100,000 deaths have been recorded since July 9, and the global toll has doubled in just over two months. And Britain launched a campaign against obesity, days after a Public Health England report found that the condition increased the risk of death from coronavirus by 40 percent.

Source: Daily Nation July 28, 2020 08:15 UTC