China ramps up testing to 4.8 million tests per day

Workers drive a motorized tricycle carrying merchandise at the Xinfadi wholesale market in Beijing on August 5. Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

China reported 37 new symptomatic Covid-19 cases and 20 new asymptomatic cases on Thursday, according to the National Health Commission.

The NHC counts symptomatic and asymptomatic positive cases in separate tallies.

There were no new deaths recorded.

That raises China's total to 88,328 confirmed cases and 4,677 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Stepping up testing: China ramped up its testing in recent weeks, reaching 4.84 million tests conducted each day by the end of July, said Wang Jiangping, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Nationwide, almost 5,000 medical institutions and 38,000 technicians were on hand to carry out the mass testing blitz.

A gravedigger digs a grave during a funeral at the San Miguel Xico cemetery in Mexico on August 5. Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

Mexico's Health Ministry reported 6,139 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing the country's total number of cases to 456,100. 

The ministry also registered 829 new fatalities, raising the death toll to 49,698.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced a minute of silence for Covid-19 victims, that will take place every day at noon across government offices and Armed Forces facilities in the country.

Mexico has recorded the world's sixth highest total number of confirmed cases and third highest total number of deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the press in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 5. Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

Twitter said on Wednesday it had restricted US President Donald Trump's campaign from tweeting after its account shared a video containing false claims about the coronavirus.

The tweet, a video of Trump's interview with Fox News in which he said children are "almost immune" to the virus, "is in violation of the Twitter Rules on Covid-19 misinformation," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

"The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again."

The account appeared to have the ability to tweet following Twitter's statement, suggesting the campaign had complied with the order and removed the video.

Just hours before, Facebook removed a post from Trump's main page featuring the same interview for similar reasons.

Campaign's response: Courtney Parella, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, said the President was "stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus," echoing the statement she shared after Facebook's removal.

Parella accused Silicon Valley of being biased against the President and said "social media companies are not the arbiters of truth."

Last week, Twitter imposed a similar restriction on the account of the President's son, Donald Trump Jr., after he posted a video featuring a doctor making false claims about coronavirus cures and stating that people "don't need masks" to prevent the virus from spreading. 

Twitter said at the time that some of the account's functionality, including the ability to tweet, would be restricted for 12 hours.

Dr. Anthony Fauci. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The world is not going to be able to eradicate the coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US' leading infectious disease expert, said Wednesday in an interview with Reuters.

A vaccine can help get the pandemic under control, Fauci added.

After next year, the virus should be manageable, Fauci predicted.

“I hope and feel it's possible that by the time we get through 2021 and go around for another cycle that we'll have this under control,” he said. “Is it conceivable that we won't? Of course. I would be unrealistic to say that. Do I think we're going to have much, much better control one full year from this winter? I think so.”

France has recorded the highest daily rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months, according to figures published by the National Health Agency on Wednesday.

France reported 1,695 new cases in 24 hours, making this the biggest increase since May 30, when an increase of 1,828 cases was recorded. 

The number of coronavirus patients in hospitals and in intensive care units has decreased in the past 24 hours, according to the Health Agency data. 

The overall death toll in the country stands at 30,305.

Read more about the resurgence of coronavirus cases in Europe:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US' leading infectious disease expert, warned that if the United States does not have a unified response against Covid-19, the country is at risk of continuing to "smolder."

Speaking to CNN's Sanjay Gupta, Fauci used the metaphor of a rowing team, noting that while watching matches of his daughter who was on a varsity crew team in college, he learned that to "win the race" all those on the boat must be "rowing in unison."

Fauci added that he thinks this lack of unity "is the problem."