Coronavirus latest updates: Global death toll over 95,000 as confirmed cases pass 1.6 million
Coronavirus latest: at a glance
A summary of the biggest developments in the
global coronavirus outbreak
Follow our latest coronavirus blog http://www.innd2.com/ for live news and updates
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Global death toll over 95,000 as confirmed
cases pass 1.6 million
Johns Hopkins University figures show that at
least 95,699 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far.
There are 1,601,984 confirmed cases worldwide. Italy’s death toll continues to
be the world’s worst, with 18,279 lives lost, while the US has the highest
number of confirmed cases, with 461,437.
UN chief warns coronavirus threatens global
peace and security
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the
UN Security Council on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic was threatening
international peace and security, potentially leading to an increase in social
unrest and violence that would greatly undermine the world’s ability to fight
the disease. The UN’s most powerful body, which has been silent on Covid-19,
issued its first brief press statement after the closed meeting, expressing
“support for all efforts of the secretary general concerning the potential
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to conflict-affected countries”.
One in 10 Americans have lost their jobs in
three weeks
More than 16 million Americans have lost
their jobs in just three weeks in a measure of the economic devastation wreaked
by the coronavirus. Numbers released Thursday by the US government showed that
6.6 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, on top of more
than 10 million in the two weeks before that. That amounts to about 1 in 10
American workers losing their employment, by far the largest and fastest
accumulation of job losses since the world’s largest economy began keeping
records in 1948. During the Great Depression it took 44 weeks — roughly 10
months — for unemployment claims to go as high as they now have in less than a
month, AP reports.
New York sees record coronavirus deaths again
New York broke its record for the largest
single-day coronavirus death toll for the third consecutive day, the governor
announced on Thursday, as he warned the pandemic would hit the state’s economy
harder than 9/11. New York was hiring labourers for mass burials on an island
off the Bronx as it recorded 799 deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing
the state’s total death toll to 7,067. There are signs that social distancing
is flattening the curve, however, as the state recorded its lowest number of
new hospital admissions since the crisis started.
China reports fewer new cases
China reported 42 new coronavirus cases on
Thursday, 38 of them imported, along with one additional death in the
hardest-hit city of Wuhan. That was down from 63 new cases on Wednesday, and 62
a day earlier, the national health commission said. Another 1,169 suspected
cases, or those who tested positive but were not showing symptoms, were being
monitored under isolation. China now has reported a total of 81,907 cases and
3,336 deaths from the virus.
Daegu city, South Korea, reports zero new
cases
The South Korean city of Daegu, where a
cluster of infections at a church drove the first major coronavirus outbreak
outside of China, on Friday reported zero new cases for the first time since
late February, as new infections across the country dropped to record lows.
With at least 6,807 confirmed cases, Daegu accounts for more than half of South
Korea’s 10,450 infections. South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases, a new low
since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February. The death toll also
rose by four to 208.
Care homes across globe in spotlight over
Covid-19 death rates
Care homes for older people across much of
Europe and North America are struggling to cope with the global coronavirus
pandemic, prompting allegations of inhumane treatment and calls for high-level
inquiries. Appalling stories have emerged from residential homes, which have
emerged as a key location for infections. People aged 70 and older are at
higher risk of getting very sick or dying from the coronavirus. And people 85
and over are even more vulnerable, global figures show.
US continues its attack on WHO
Days after Donald Trump threatened to
withhold funding from the World Health Organisation, the US has doubled down on
its criticism of the WHO. The state department has said the body was too late
in sounding the alarm over Covid-19 and overly deferential to China. It
questioned why the Geneva-based body did not pursue a lead from Taiwan and
said: “The WHO once again chose politics over public health.”
Boris Johnson out of intensive care
Boris Johnson is back on a hospital ward
after spending three nights in intensive care, and is in “extremely good
spirits”, Downing Street has announced. In a statement released on Thursday
evening, a No 10 spokesman said: “The prime minister has been moved this
evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close
monitoring during the early phase of his recovery.”
