EU sets $2.1T virus aid plan, US deal at risk as cases soar

MITO, Japan (AP) — EU leaders thrashed out a $2.1 trillion plan to aid their pandemic-ravaged economies Tuesday while U.S. lawmakers remained far apart on a deal to provide more financial relief for Americans.

Meanwhile, testing of an experimental vaccine showed it may protect people against the coronavirus. The urgency of such research is rising with the pandemic still gaining momentum in parts of the U.S., India and elsewhere in the developing world.

India added more 37,000 new cases for a national total now exceeding 1,155,000, the third most behind the U.S., with more than 3.8 million, and Brazil, with 2.1 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

India's new cases have hovered around 40,000 a day in recent days, with experts warning it is likely to witness a series of peaks as the infection spreads in rural areas where the healthcare system is weak. The Indian Council for Medical Research, the top medical research body, was urging state governments to add more labs and improve testing capacity for the country of 1.4 billion people.

Across Asia, coronavirus outbreaks have waxed and waned, with the latest flare-ups in Australia, South Korea and China's far west appearing to be coming under control.

Australian military personnel were helping health authorities in Victoria state, where the country's second largest city, Melbourne, has shut down to combat a rebound in infections.

“We’re still very much in the hard part of this fight, as you can see from the daily case numbers and I’m not expecting that to change a lot in the short term,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. “And we just need to keep working the problem.”

South Korea reported 45 new virus cases, 25 of them among quarantined people arriving from abroad. In many...