MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2020) As the global number of COVID-19 cases has exceeded 838,000, with over 41,000 fatalities, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world could face the most challenging crisis since World War II. He also announced the launching of a global fund to address the potentially devastating socio-economic impact of the pandemic on low- and middle-income countries.
Belarus, Mauritania, Botswana, Tanzania and Myanmar have registered the first COVID-19 fatalities.
Sierra Leone and Burundi have recorded the first cases of the coronavirus.
The death toll from the coronavirus in Spain has risen by 849 over the past day, reaching 8,189, the country's Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The case count has surged by more than 9,200 to over 94,400.
France's number of COVID-19 cases has increased by nearly 7,500 and currently amounts to 52,128, Jerome Salomon, the head of the national public health service, said on Tuesday. The country's death toll has reached 3,523.
Germany's number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus infection has increased by 4,615 to 61,913, and the death toll has risen by 128 to 583 in the past 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute said on Tuesday.
Turkey has registered over 2,700 new COVID-19 cases over past 24 hours, with the total count reaching 13,531, and the number of fatalities has increased by 46 to 214, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Tuesday.
Italy has registered 837 deaths caused by COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, and the number of new cases has increased by 2,107, Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection Department, said on Tuesday. Italy's total case count now amounts to 105,792, with 12,428 fatalities.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States has increased to 3,415, surpassing for the first time the number of fatalities from the disease in China, the Johns Hopkins University real-time tracker revealed on Tuesday. The number of confirmed infections in the US has increased to 175,067 � the highest in the world.
LOCKDOWNS, CURFEWS, RESTRICTIONS
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday declared a health emergency due to the spread of COVID-19. Indonesian authorities have decided to temporarily ban entry and transit services for foreign nationals as part of measures to curb the further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday.
Cyprus has tightened measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus by introducing a curfew and imposing a fine of up to 300 Euros ($330) for those violating the restrictions, which include a ban on gatherings, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said.
Crimea has suspended passenger bus travel with other regions to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus, the Crimean Transport Ministry said on Tuesday.
The lockdown imposed in the United Kingdom because of the coronavirus pandemic was the main factor behind rising levels of anxiety and depression among the British people, the study jointly conducted by the University of Sheffield and the Ulster University said on Tuesday.
A Russian aircraft with medical and protective equipment may fly to the United States before the end of the day to provide assistance to the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He added that Trump accepted the humanitarian assistance with gratitude.
The US will allocate $1.2 million to support Ukraine's effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the US Agency for International Development said.
Trump said during a press conference that the US was sending $100 million worth of protective medical equipment to Italy, dealing with a severe outbreak of COVID-19.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would donate his salary for seven months to a fund for tackling the COVID-19 outbreak.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will provide 60 ventilators to northwestern Syria in addition to the 153 already being used in order to prepare for the possible spreading of COVID-19 there, the head of the WHO's local operation, Mahmoud Daher, has said in an interview with Sputnik. The WHO is calling on the global community to increase its support to northwestern Syria amid the threat of the coronavirus, as the region is poorly prepared for an outbreak, which may become an unprecedented challenge, Daher has also said.
The Canadian government is allocating $1.4 billion to procure� protective equipment for frontline workers in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday.
Serbia will allocate one-half of its yearly budget, 5.1 billion euros ($5.6 billion), to support the national economy amid the pandemic, according to Finance Minister Sinisa Mali.
Online vacation rental service Airbnb will pay $250 million to hosts to help them cover refund costs for guests who have canceled their accommodation reservations in light of the coronavirus pandemic, CEO Brian Chesky said.
The WHO launched on Tuesday an interactive chatbot on Viber to provide people across the world with accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic, with the service set to be available in more than 20 languages soon.
The Russian Interior Ministry has launched a memo in seven different languages for migrants on ways to protect themselves against COVID-19.
RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES CORONAVIRUS-RELATED BILLS
The Russian upper house, the Federation Council, approved on Tuesday a bill that makes the dissemination of fake information about the coronavirus a crime punishable with up to five years of imprisonment. In addition, the upper house approved a bill on criminal liability of up to seven years in prison for violating coronavirus quarantine rules if this offense leads to the negligent homicide of two or more persons. Earlier in the day, the lower house approved both bills as well.
Both houses passed on Tuesday a bill on expanding powers of the government and its right to introduce a state of emergency in the country.
The Kremlin believes that the government's right to declare state of emergency is justified, since the cabinet is directly overseeing the anti-coronavirus effort, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.
Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor announced the creation of a highly accurate test to diagnose COVID-19. The diagnostic kit successfully passed clinical trials and was registered for use in the Russian Federation on March 25.
Russian biotechnological company Biocad said on Tuesday it could begin clinical trials of a vaccine against COVID-19 in five or six months.
The number of people meeting cosmonauts and astronauts returning from the International Space Station (ISS) will be limited on order to avoid infection with the coronavirus, NASA nurse Raksana Batsmanova told Sputnik. Chances for the novel coronavirus to get into the ISS are next to zero due to the enhanced security measures undertaken by the space agencies, she added.
The ISS crew that is expected to land in Kazakhstan on April 17 could be sent into quarantine for 14 days as part of relevant epidemiological measures amid the ongoing pandemic, Sergei Savin, chief epidemiologist at the Gagarin Research and Cosmonaut Training Center, told Sputnik.
