Virus tolls surge in Americas as Europe re-opens

The death toll from the coronavirus spiked again in the United States, and Latin America's pandemic crisis deepened, as Europe's re-opening from lockdown grew bolder by the day.    

Grim figures from the Americas were accompanied by the growing economic fallout, with the number of people filing unemployment claims in the U.S. reaching 40 million, and Brazil shedding five million jobs.    

But Europe pressed on with efforts to return to normality, with the English Premier League and Italy's Serie A  unveiling plans to resume play.    

Populations are learning to adjust to life with the long-term threat of infection as the virus continues its march around the globe and a vaccine remains elusive.     

Pharmaceutical firm bosses expressed optimism a jab could be rolled out by year's end but warned of "daunting" challenges in producing the 15 billion doses needed to curb the pandemic.   

Well over 100 labs around the world are scrambling to come up with a vaccine, including 10 candidates that have made it to the clinical trial stage.   

"If things go well, and the stars are aligned, we will have enough evidence of safety and efficacy so that we can... have a vaccine around the end of October," said Pfizer boss Albert Bourla.        

The urgency was underlined by ballooning death tolls in South America, increasingly the new focus of the pandemic, where Brazil recorded more than 1,000 fatalities and a national one-day record for infections.    

Chile also logged a record daily death toll on May 28 and in Peru total fatalities topped 4,000.    

With limited sanitation and little space for social distancing, millions of people in slums across the region cannot take basic precautions recommended by health...