Latest On Coronavirus

Latest on Coronavirus

The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world reached 290,000, almost 4.24 million cases of infection were detected, and more than 1.48 million of those patients were cured, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from federal and local authorities, media and other source

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2020) The death toll from the coronavirus infection in the world reached 290,000, almost 4.24 million cases of infection were detected, and more than 1.48 million of those patients were cured, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from federal and local authorities, media and other sources.

As of 21.00 GMT Friday, the number of people infected globally is 4,239,972, of them 290,390 died.

The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 1,359,319. This includes 232,733 recoveries and 81,847 fatalities.

There will be spikes of COVID-19 throughout the United States if states and cities reopen too soon, National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said during a Senate hearing.

It may not be possible for people on buses and trains to stay the recommended two meters (six feet six inches) away from each other as part of the COVID-19 social distancing measures that will remain in force in the UK after lockdown restrictions are eased, the UK Department of Transport said.

The Canadian government is taking a cautious approach in negotiations with the United States about loosening restrictions enacted amid the pandemic at the shared border, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.

The Italian government allowed regional authorities on Tuesday to decide on their own whether to reopen local small- and medium-sized businesses, including hairdressers, bars and retail shops, as the country gradually loosens coronavirus-related restrictions.

People traveling to Spain will be required to self-isolate for a fourteen-day quarantine to ensure the well-being of others in times of the global coronavirus pandemic starting on May 15 for the entire duration of the high alert regime, the Spanish Health Ministry said.

Germany can avoid a second wave of the new coronavirus if people comply with the necessary hygiene rules, Lars Schaade, the vice president of the Robert Koch Institute of the Health Ministry, said.

The government of the German capital city said that it had adopted a three-color reference system for categorizing the criteria used to either weaken or strengthen the coronavirus-related restrictions.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called for the reopening of parks and gardens only if residents wear protective masks there and in the streets of the French capital.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan believes it is too early to restart the English Premier League football competition as the United Kingdom is still in the grips of the epidemic, media reported.

The Indian government is likely to extend lockdown measures designed to curb the spread of COVID-19, which are set to expire on May 17, although some changes will be made to the current restrictions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during a televised address.

The Lebanese government has issued an order to impose a curfew for four days starting on Wednesday evening due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients, President Michel Aoun's office said.

Dubai's hotel beaches are set to reopen with strict social distancing guidelines in place as the authorities look to further ease lockdown measures that were enforced to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Al Arabiya broadcaster reported, citing a government circular.

Algeria has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown for 15 more days beginning on May 15 as part of the government's response to the COVID-19 crisis, Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad said.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has included gyms, beauty salons and hairdressers to the list of businesses allowed during the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to relax stringent measures and revive the economy.

Argentina's Buenos Aires city and province, where almost half of the country's population lives, are starting to ease the coronavirus-related restrictions in order to support businesses, local authorities said.

Japan is extending its entry ban to 13 additional countries, including Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, in a bid to impede the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.

South Korea has postponed the start of the transition from online learning to school attendance from May 13 to May 20 due to concerns related to a possible new COVID-19 outbreak, the country's Education Ministry said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided that UN staff at the headquarters building in New York will continue to work remotely until the end of June to further curb the transmission of COVID-19, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

The United States accumulated a record $738 billion deficit in the month of April amid the ongoing pandemic, the Treasury Department revealed in a report.

The European Central Bank (ECB) expects the coronavirus pandemic, which has rattled the manufacturing and service industry, to maintain its influence on the economy.

Economic activity in France fell by 27 percent in April, which is slightly better than in the second half of March, due to coronavirus-related restrictions, the Bank of France said.

The passenger traffic of Russian airlines decreased by 91.8 percent year-on-year in April 2020 and by 29.5 percent year-on-year in January-April amid the coronavirus pandemic, the operational data of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) shows.

India has registered the first year-on-year decrease of around one percent in the country's CO2 emissions over the past four decades, against the backdrop of restrictive measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, an analysis by the UK-based Carbon Brief website found.

The US Senate rejected a second major coronavirus relief bill drafted by the House because it fails to focus on controlling the pandemic and mitigating its economic consequences, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

The Trudeau government will spend $1.78 billion to provide Canadian seniors besieged by the coronavirus pandemic with a one-time payment $357 maximum payment, Seniors Minister Deb Schulte told reporters.

The United Nations continues to boost humanitarian assistance to Yemen amid the pandemic and will deliver about 5,000 metric tons of medical supplies into the country, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

The Indian economy will receive a support package worth 20 trillion rupees ($266 billion) to offset the disruption caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The Japanese authorities have begun to supply medical institutions across the country with the recently approved antiviral drug dubbed Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients, media reported, citing Japanese Health Minister Kato Katsunobu.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) technical lead on COVID-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said that there wes still no evidence of possible serious mutations in the genetic makeup of the coronavirus, and all existing changes in the virus were "within expected range."

The WHO has called on Egypt to increase the number of COVID-19 tests, WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) Director Rana al-Hajjah said.

More than 5.8 million tests to detect COVID-19 have been conducted in Russia since the beginning of the outbreak, and 251,000 people across the country remain under medical supervision as suspected virus carriers, the national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said.

The United States will be able to perform up to 50 million coronavirus tests per month by September, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Girgoir said.

A Chinese vaccine candidate against the novel coronavirus disease will proceed to the testing phase in Canada, the National Research Council said. The Ad5-nCoV is among the few COVID-19 vaccine candidates across the world approved for initial safety testing in humans.

Iranian scientists have developed a new nano-test kit capable of detecting the new coronavirus in 30 seconds with 95-percent accuracy, the Mehr news agency reported.

The canteen of the European Parliament building in the French city of Strasbourg has been turned into a test center to detect COVID-19, the France 2 broadcaster reported.

There are no signs that Russia is knowingly understating its data on COVID-19 mortality rate despite articles in western media outlets stating otherwise, WHO spokeswoman in Russia Melita Vujnovic said.

Russia has never manipulated official coronavirus statistics, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said, commenting on reports of foreign media.

Allegations put forward by several Western media outlets about Russia downplaying the true number of its coronavirus-related fatalities is yet another "volley" of fake news and shows poor reporting standards, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Allegations that the death toll from the coronavirus in Russia may be significantly than official statistics are motivated by malevolence and unprofessional hype, former Russian Chief Sanitary Doctor Gennadii Onishсhenko, who is now a lawmaker of parliament's lower house, told Sputnik, adding that the results of mortality rates will be recalculated after the end of the pandemic.