TRANSPARENCY: CoST Uganda Commissions 2nd Infrastructure Transparency Index
Shift Media News 
|SHIFTMEDIA| As of July 21, confirmed the Covid-19 case total from 55 African countries has reached 736,587.
Reported deaths in Africa have reached 15,424 and recoveries 389,314.
South Africa has the most reported cases – 373,628, with deaths numbering 5,173. Other most-affected countries include Egypt (88,402 cases), Nigeria (37,225), Algeria (23,691), and Ghana (28,430).
The numbers are compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (world map) using statistics from the World Health Organization and other international institutions as well national and regional public health departments. For the latest totals, see the AllAfrica clickable map with per-country numbers.
Visit the AllAfrica Coronavirus section for more coverage from across the continent. Also see Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization Africa, and African Arguments.
Trump Lowers Tone on Corona
Reeling from polls predicting defeat in November’s election, President Donald Trump struck a newly serious tone on the coronavirus crisis Tuesday, acknowledging that a disease he has frequently played down would “get worse.”
“Some areas of our country are doing very well,” Trump said at his first formal White House briefing on the pandemic in almost three months.
“Others are doing less well,” the president said. “It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better.”
The return to presidential coronavirus briefings — abandoned in late April after Trump drew ridicule for musing on the potential for injecting coronavirus patients with household disinfectant — was part of a concerted bid to take back control of the message.
After an erratic US response, some 140,000 deaths, and now dramatic surges in new cases across the south and southwest, polls show two-thirds of Americans mistrusting Trump’s leadership on the issue.
The United States has recorded more than 60,000 new cases of Covid-19 for eight consecutive days.
Polls also show his response to the pandemic driving voters strongly in the direction of opponent Joe Biden in the presidential election, due in just over 100 days.
While Trump makes his latest pivot, Congress is starting to negotiate another large-scale economic relief bill to try and prop up an economy devastated by mass unemployment and shuttered businesses.
An agreement appears some way off, but in Europe, EU leaders emerged from a marathon four-day and four-night summit on Tuesday to celebrate what they boasted was their own historic rescue plan.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the 750-billion-euro ($858-billion) deal was equal to “the greatest crisis” in EU history. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hailed “a Marshall Plan for Europe” that would boost his country’s economy by 140 billion euros over the next six years.
