Skip to main content

Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world

(ITNTV) - Countries affected by the novel coronavirus entered another week of strict quarantine and several nations introduced new economic stimulus to aid citizens and companies hit by the pandemic.

DEATHS, INFECTIONS

- More than 738,500 people have been infected across the world and about 35,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
- For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
- U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.

EUROPE

- Italy’s government said it would extend its nationwide lockdown measures against a coronavirus outbreak at least until the Easter season in April.
- The British prime minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, is self-isolating with symptoms just days after the British leader himself tested positive.
- France recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll on Monday, exceeding 3,000 for the first time, and army helicopters transported critical patients from the east to hospitals overseas.
- More than a dozen Russian regions including the city of St Petersburg introduced a partial lockdown.
- Finland will extend most of its measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak by one month until May 13 from April 13.
- Denmark may gradually lift a lockdown after Easter if the numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths remain stable.
- Spain overtook China in the number of those infected with coronavirus.
- Germany hopes to launch a Singapore-style smartphone app within weeks to help trace infections.
- Hungary’s prime minister has secured open-ended emergency powers to fight the outbreak.

AMERICAS

- People cheered the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort as it sailed into New York, a beacon of the national effort to stanch the coronavirus outbreak at its U.S. epicenter as the number of cases soared.
- The U.S. government has cut deals with Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) and said it is in talks with at least two other firms to expand manufacturing capacity within the United States for coronavirus vaccines.
- Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro stepped up his stand-off with state governments by suggesting that democracy could be at risk if the coronavirus crisis leads to social chaos.
- Colombia’s ELN guerrillas declared a unilateral cease-fire for one month from April 1 in an effort to help stem the spread.
ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
- China will step up prevention and control of asymptomatic coronavirus cases, state media reported.
- Police in India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry.
- Tokyo’s governor called on residents to avoid outings, but said it was up to Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency.
- The World Health Organization has not shared with member states information Taiwan provided including details on its cases and prevention methods, its foreign ministry said.
- Vietnam suspended public transport services.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

- Iran had 117 new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, prompting the Middle East’s worst hit country to consider tougher curbs.
- Saudi Arabia will finance treatment for anyone infected with the coronavirus in the country, the health minister said, while the agriculture ministry took steps to boost wheat and livestock supplies.
- An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tested positive but initial findings indicate she had not posed an infection risk to the 70-year-old leader.
- Zimbabwe began a 21-day nationwide lockdown, following neighbour South Africa in implementing some of the world’s toughest anti-coronavirus measures likely to hurt an economy already suffering hyperinflation and food shortages.
U.S. members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wearing protective masks, gather at Toncontin International airport before heading home, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras March 29, 2020. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

- Global stocks rose on Monday despite a drop in oil prices to their lowest levels since 2002, as central banks and the United States tried to contain damage from the coronavirus that has upended the world economy. [MKTS/GLOB]
- Trade ministers from the Group of 20 major economies agreed on Monday to keep their markets open and ensure the continued flow of vital medical supplies, equipment and other essential goods.
- The International Monetary Fund said relaxing the euro zone’s fiscal rules and support from the European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism is critical to a strong regional response.
- Banks across the euro zone are ditching dividends to shore up reserves as the outbreak threatens to tip the world into a deep recession.
- Israel will spend 80 billion shekels ($22 billion) to help the economy weather the coronavirus crisis.
- Switzerland may have to expand its emergency fund for companies after banks loaned out $6.89 billion in the first four days of the scheme.
- Peru is readying a stimulus package worth around 12% of its gross domestic product.
- The outbreak will push Germany into recession in the first half of this year and could result in its output contracting by up to 5.4% this year.
- Collapsing oil prices are costing some OPEC members not only lost revenue when they most need it to tackle the coronavirus crisis, but also market share they may never recoup.
- South Korea will make emergency cash payments to all but the richest families and draw up a second supplementary budget next month.
- Nigeria’s currency eased to 415 naira per dollar on the black market on Monday after its president ordered a lockdown of two of the country’s biggest cities.
- Singapore’s central bank aggressively eased its monetary policy, with the city-state’s economy bracing for a deep recession.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drug dealers 'delivered crack cocaine to mental health hospital'

Drug dealers delivered crack cocaine to vulnerable patients at a mental health hospital, the BBC has been told. It is one of the claims made by a number of former patients at units run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, which have seen five deaths in less than two years. The trust has been criticised over its services at three hospitals, including West Lane in Middlesbrough,  where three teenage girls died. The trust said reviews were under way. One girl admitted to West Park Hospital in Darlington last year told BBC Inside Out: "Definitely the most alarming [thing] was the presence of crack cocaine on the ward. "There were two ways [to get it]. Either people left and brought it back in with them, or you could ring a dealer and they would come on to the ward and deliver them for you." She also said staff were "tipped off" ahead of a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection. "They were told in advance what would be happen...
1 comment
Read more

Meet the man building a human zoo in China

(CNN) —  For decades, humans have ripped up the natural landscape in Asia, chopping down trees to build luxury resorts in the most beautiful locations and caging wild animals to attract tourists. Bangkok-based hotel architect Bill Bensley is saying "no more." When a client approached him about designing a resort that included a zoo in Wuchuan, in southern China's Guangdong province, he flipped the idea on its head: let's cage the humans and let the exotic and endangered animals roam free. Sounds crazy? Bensley is known for maverick ideas, so much so that he's been called the "Willy Wonka of hotel design." At his Shinta Mani Wild resort in Cambodia guests arrive via a 380-meter zipwire over the wilderness of the South Cardamom National Park and are invited to join Wildlife Alliance anti-poaching patrols. But he's not doing things simply for the shock factor. Bensley is a lifelong conservationist who deeply cares about what humans are doing ...
Post a Comment
Read more

80 pct of life stopped in Turkey due to outbreak, says interior minister

Turkish citizens, especially those living in metropolises, have been abiding by the “social isolation” principles laid out by the government, Interior Minister  Süleyman Soylu  has said, adding that almost 80 percent of life “stopped” in  Turkey . “Up until now, just our ministry issued 38 circulars, 17 of which concern the borders. Many high-level precautions have been taken. Right now, 80 percent of life stopped in Turkey,” Soylu said on March 26 in an interview with a private broadcaster. Soylu also provided updated figures for passenger traffic. He said that there is a 73 percent decline in inter-city bus services, adding that these services can also be suspended if needed. On intra-city traffic, Soylu said that there has been an 80 percent decline. This figure was 65 percent according to another interview the minister held on March 25. The government has four cruxes it predicates on when taking measures against the spread of the novel  coronaviru...
Post a Comment
Read more