Latest On Coronavirus

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th May, 2020) The number of people infected with the new coronavirus worldwide neared 3.5 million on Sunday, with over 246,000 dying from it, according to the latest statistics compiled by the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

The US remains atop the list of worst-hit countries in terms of the number of infection cases, with more than 1.1 million cases and over 67,000 fatalities.

A host of countries in Europe is meanwhile preparing to ease lockdowns after seeing the spread of the infection level off. Italy, which emerged as the world's epicenter of the pandemic in March, has reported the smallest rise in daily deaths since mid-March.

Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said Sunday he had agreed to extend the state of emergency until the end of May, according to the NHK public broadcaster. It was due to expire on May 6.

Senegal has extended until June 2 the national state of emergency and the curfew over the outbreak. The West African nation has so far reported 1,182 confirmed infections and nine deaths.

Russia will keep some restrictions on public life in place to avoid a second wave of infections until a vaccine against the virus is found and the herd immunity is built, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko has admitted.

Iran plans to reopen mosques and resume Friday prayers in the least affected cities during the holy month of Ramadan, President Hassan Rouhani said, after the Islamic Republic registered the lowest rise in virus-related deaths on Sunday. It now has 97,424 confirmed cases and 6,203 deaths.

Israel's Finance Ministry has proposed a timetable for the coronavirus exit strategy that could reopen universities and shopping malls as soon as this week.

Belarus will defy the pandemic to hold a Victory Day parade on May 9 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Alexander Lukashenko, the president of the Eastern European nation, which has 16,705 confirmed cases and 99 deaths, said the event's emotional significance was too important to ignore.

The virus war continues to weigh on the already strained ties between the US and China. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told ABC in an interview that there was "significant evidence" that the virus escaped a Wuhan lab. China has denied such claims.

In Ukraine, dozens of entrepreneurs defied the ban on gatherings in the capital of Kiev to protest against the nationwide coronavirus lockdown that they said was hurting small businesses.

The Orly airport in Paris is likely to remain shut until September amid the drop in air travel, the French daily Les Echoes has reported. The larger airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, is expected to absorb all summer traffic until then.

The United Kingdom prepares to start testing its coronavirus contact-tracing app this week and will roll it out nationwide later in May if the trials are successful, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told the Sky news channel.

Russian servicemen have helped Italy disinfect three more medical care facilities in the country's worst-affected northern region of Lombardy. Russia sent dozens of disinfection teams to Italy in March to help it curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

Swiss pharma company Roche has been given an emergency use authorization by the US food and Drug Administration for its COVID-19 antibody test, designed to help determine if a patient has been exposed to the virus and has developed antibodies against it.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced an equivalent of $125 million in funding for AbCellera Biologics, a Vancouver biotech company conducting a promising research of antibodies that could be used in drugs to treat the virus. Human trials will begin in July.

Pope Francis called in a video address on Sunday for an international effort to create a vaccine and treatment against the coronavirus and share them worldwide. The US alone is working on 14 vaccine candidates, in what NBC sources said was called "Operation Warp Speed."