The number of coronavirus cases registered globally reached 1,956,077, including 471,469 recoveries and 125,196 deaths, according to the statistics collected by Johns Hopkins University
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2020) The number of coronavirus cases registered globally reached 1,956,077, including 471,469 recoveries and 125,196 deaths, according to the statistics collected by Johns Hopkins University.
The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 598,670. This includes 45,079 recoveries and 25,163 fatalities.
Italy has confirmed 162,488 cases, including 21,167 deaths and 37,130 recoveries. Spain reported 172,541 cases in total, including 67,504 recoveries and 18.056 deaths.
The coronavirus pandemic has not yet reached its global peak despite showing slight slowdowns in the worst-affected European nations, it remains on the rise in other nations, World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.
The results of measures taken to combat coronavirus in Russia, including self-isolation, will be seen by the end of this week and early next week, the country's chief public health official, Anna Popova, said. She clarified that the development of guidelines and instructions for all types of businesses to end the self-isolation regime had already begun.
US President Donald Trump will make some important announcements in the next several days regarding the reopening of the US economy from the shutdowns imposed over the coronavirus pandemic, White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he was not sure whether to allow large social gatherings throughout the summer amid the pandemic.
The Canadian province of Ontario has extended the state of emergency for an additional 28 days due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Georgian government suspended for 10 days exit from and entry to the country's largest cities, including the capital of Tbilisi, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said.
The Latvian authorities have no plans to introduce additional measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins said, adding at the same time that the fight against the virus in the country is far from over.
Pakistan extended on Tuesday a nationwide lockdown for two more weeks but eased some of restrictions on public life.
Thousands of Indian migrant workers thronged a train station in Mumbai on Thursday in an effort to make the government restore rail links to allow them to go home. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus lockdown until May 3 on Tuesday, and many workers who came to big Indian cities to earn their living were still unable to return to their remote villages, while some resorted to traveling great distances on foot.
Jordanian Minister of Awqaf Islamic Affairs and Holy Places Mohammad Khalaileh said that the country's mosques would remain closed during the holy fasting month of Ramadan from April 23 to May 23.
The Vatican's measures against the spread of the coronavirus will remain in place until May 3, the Holy See's press office said.
Global economy could plunge by another 3 percent this year and an additional 8 percent next year if the current coronavirus pandemic extends into 2021, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said. The economic fallout of the new coronavirus pandemic will be especially painful for oil-producing countries, with futures markets indicating that the price per barrel will remain below $45 through 2023, the IMF said.
The global economy is set to shrink 2.8 percent this year due to COVID-19, UK-based forecasting firm Oxford Economics predicted in its monthly report. The overall downturn will be far more severe than the post-financial crisis 1.1 percent drop recorded in 2009, it said.
The real GDP of the United Kingdom will decline by as much as 35 percent in the second quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but will bounce back quickly following the removal of lockdown restrictions, according to the forecast published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
France's economy is expected to shrink by 8 percent in 2020 given a decrease in economic activities caused by the extension of the self-isolation regime until May 11 in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.
Domestic and international airlines will most likely lose more than half of their revenue originally expected for 2020 due to repeated extensions of the anti-coronavirus restrictions, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said.
Part of the Spanish military personnel participating in missions to Afghanistan, Iraq and Mali will be sent back home due to the spread of the coronavirus, the General Staff of the Spanish Defense Ministry said.
The European Union and Canada are committed to reinforcing the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including by endorsing humanitarian exceptions to sanctions as a means to deliver assistance to the most vulnerable populations, according to a joint statement by the Canadian foreign minister and the EU foreign policy chief said in a joint statement.
The Russian government allocated an equivalent to 1.2 percent of the country's GDP to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Russia intends to share it experience with the coronavirus response and present the results of its work on the vaccine, he said.
Russia's help to Serbia in the fight against the coronavirus was timely and qualified, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski told Sputnik.
China delivered more than 20 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Moscow to help the Russian capital in its fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke by phone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about coronavirus response and offered his country's support.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have sent 27 tonnes of humanitarian and medical aid to Somalia to help the African nation combat the coronavirus disease.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued a decree declaring the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in the country a "national disaster," while Indonesia's COVID-19 task force received more powers to contain the pandemic.
The Turkish authorities have adopted a new regulation enabling all citizens, including those who are not registered with the social security system, to be treated for the coronavirus disease for free.
A total of 180 government officials, businesses and activists from across Europe have signed a letter calling for "greencovery" � using eco-friendly policies for economic recovery from the crisis caused by the global coronavirus pandemic.
A Russian company delivered the strain of COVID-19 from the United States to Russia to conduct research and develop a vaccine after obtaining relevant permission from the customs service in the city of Tomsk, the Russian customs' press service said.
Clinical trials of the Remdesivir anti-viral drug for treating patients with COVID-19 started in Japan.
Meanwhile, hundreds of scientists all over the world are working together to make sense of one of the new coronavirus's symptoms, the loss of smell or taste, which can be partial or total and may last for weeks.
Ten hospitals in Moscow are already testing their staff for immunity to coronavirus, Russia's chief public health official, Anna Popova, said. The number of coronavirus tests conducted in Russia daily increased to 90,000 now from just 2,000 a month ago, she said.
The coronavirus can be transmitted from person to person at a distance of up to four meters (13 feet), the Russian Health Ministry's chief epidemiologist, Nikolai Briko, said, referring to a recent study of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The United States is still trying to trace the exact origins of coronavirus, but "the weight of evidence" seems to indicate the pandemic had natural causes as opposed to being developed in a laboratory, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters.
A group of US Senators wrote to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) seeking details of its cooperation with China during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic to prepare for an investigation of charges that the agency helped Beijing cover up the outbreak that began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
