Desk News :
The coronavirus has infected 740,235 in 199 countries and territories around the world.
So far, 35,035 individuals have died from the mysterious virus, while 156,588 recovered from infection.
The US now has the most confirmed cases worldwide – more than 139,700 and more than 2,400 deaths, according to a CNN count.
New York State has more than 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths. Italy’s death toll is now the highest in the world.
Besides, Italian authorities said Sunday they would extend a month-long lockdown to stem the coronavirus pandemic, as the death toll in the country reached 10,779 after the number of fatalities rose by 756 in 24 hours.
The number of fatalities, by far the highest of any country in the world, account for more than a third of all deaths from the infectious virus worldwide. Lombardy, the hardest hit Italian region, reported a rise in deaths of around 416 on Sunday.
Nevertheless, the daily rise in infections has slowed to 5.6 percent – the lowest rate since Italian officials started tracking cases following the first death on February 21.
Italy’s largest daily toll was registered on Friday, when 919 people died. There were 889 deaths on Saturday.
The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose on Sunday to 97,689 from a previous 92,472, the lowest daily rise in new cases since Wednesday. Of those infected nationwide, 13,030 had fully recovered on Sunday, compared to 12,384 the day before. There were 3,906 people in intensive care, up from the previous 3,856.
“We are witnessing a slowdown,” University of Milan virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco told the Il Corriere della Sera daily.
“It is not plateau yet, but it is a good sign.”
Italy closed all of its schools at the start of the month and then began gradually imposing a lockdown, tightening it successively until almost all stores were shut on March 12.
The measures – since adopted to varying degrees across most of Europe – did not prevent Italy’s death toll from overtaking that in China, where the disease was first reported, on March 19. And while the lockdown – which is officially due to end on April 3 – is economically painful, officials appear determined to extend it until the coronavirus is finally stopped in its tracks.
Regional affairs minister Francesco Boccia said the question facing the government was not whether it would be extended, but by how long.
“The measures expiring on April 3 will inevitably be extended,” Boccia told Italy’s Sky TG24 television.
“I think that, at the moment, talking about re-opening is inappropriate and irresponsible.”
A final decision is expected to be made at a ministerial meeting in the coming days. Boccia also indicated that the eventual easing of the different confinement measures would be gradual. “We all want to go back to normal,” he said. “But we will have to do it by turning on one switch at a time.”
In theory, the existing state of national health emergency allows Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to extend the lockdown until July 31.
More than 662,700 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
Meanwhile, for the third day in a row, Spain registered over 800 daily deaths due to COVID-19, according to data released by the Spanish Health Ministry on Monday.
Over the last 24 hours, 812 people have died, raising the death toll to 7,340. Together, Spain and Italy have registered around half of the world’s total COVID-19 deaths, which according to Johns Hopkins University, have crossed 34,000.
The data shows that around 8,000 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Spain, bringing the total to 85,195.
On Sunday, the country mourned the death of a 28-year-old doctor who died after contracting the virus.
As of Friday, nearly 10,000 Spanish healthcare professionals had been confirmed to be infected. With the new deaths, Spain has tightened its lockdown, suspending non-essential activities such as construction.
Funerals have also been banned until the state of emergency comes to an end. Madrid, Spain’s worst-hit region, has been using a skating rink as a temporary morgue. Now, works are underway to turn a massive building called The City of Justice into another one.
Besides, Iran’s death toll from the new coronavirus has increased to 2,757 with 117 new deaths in the past 24 hours, a health ministry spokesman told state TV on Monday, adding that the total number of cases has climbed to 41,495.
“In the past 24 hours we had 117 new deaths and 3,186 new confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus,” Kianush Jahanpur told state TV, calling on Iranians to stay at home.
