News Desk :
More than 76,000 people have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, while some 1.3 million infections have been confirmed in at least 209 countries and territories. More than 293,654 people have recovered to date
The total number of coronavirus cases in Italy has increased to 132,547 on Monday, while that of deaths hit 16,523, according to fresh data released by the country’s Civil Protection Department.
Speaking during a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed that there were 1,941 new active coronavirus infections compared to Sunday, bringing the nationwide total to 93,187.
Of those infected, 28,976 are hospitalized, 3,898 are in intensive care and the rest are quarantined at home, Borrelli said.
“The number of patients being moved to intensive care has dropped for the third consecutive day,” he added. New deaths on Monday were 636, bringing the tally to 16,523 since the coronavirus pandemic first broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.
Borrelli added that there were 1,022 additional recoveries compared to Sunday, bringing that total to 22,837.
The pace of coronavirus deaths in Spain ticked up slightly for the first time in five days on Tuesday, with 743 people succumbing overnight to reach a total of 13,798.
For more coronavirus coverage, visit our dedicated section. That compared to 637 people who died during the previous 24 hours in the nation with the second highest toll of fatalities in the world from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total cases rose to 140,510 on Tuesday from 135,032 on Monday, the health ministry said.
Americans were put on notice Monday not to let up in the fight against the coronavirus, as a grim milestone of 10,000 deaths cast a pall over the first signs of optimism about the outbreak’s trajectory.
The United States has emerged as one of the world’s worst-hit nations, with a steadily mounting number of fatalities and millions facing the possibility of economic ruin.
Authorities began the week by telling frightened communities to brace for one of the worst periods yet in an outbreak that has not yet reached its peak.
Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, which has been keeping a running tally of coronavirus numbers, said more than 368,000 US cases had been confirmed, with 10,986 deaths by late Monday.
There was a glimmer of hope, however, in New York, the main focus of the US outbreak, where there have been more than 4,750 deaths statewide and 130,000 cases.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday the death rate had been “effectively flat” for two days. The state reported 599 new deaths, similar to Sunday’s tally of 594 and down from a record 630 on Saturday.
But the governor ordered schools and non-essential businesses to remain shut for a further three weeks, telling reporters: “Now is not the time to be lax.”
“It is hopeful but it is also inconclusive,” Cuomo said, adding that it would be a “mistake” to relax restrictions too early. “If the curve is turning, it’s because the rate of infection is going down. If the rate of infection is going down, it’s because social distancing is working.”
Authorities have warned that between 100,000 and 240,000 people could die in the United States, even in a best-case scenario with social distancing guidelines being observed.
Nine states-all controlled by Republican governors-have still not yet ordered total lockdowns, much to the frustration of public health experts.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked a last-minute attempt by the governor of the midwestern state to postpone the next day’s Democratic presidential primary and other elections because of the coronavirus epidemic and ruled that the vote should go ahead.
In a 4-2 decision, the top state court overturned an executive order from the Democratic Governor Tony Evers, who had sought to delay the election until June citing the threat to poll workers and voters from the virus.
Wisconsin, which is among those under stay-at-home orders, would have joined around 15 US states that have already delayed their primaries.
Evers moved to postpone the election unilaterally after the Republican-majority state Senate and state Assembly ignored his repeated appeals for a delay.
Although hotspots like New York face a dire lack of protective gear, ventilators and medics, there was further cause for optimism, with early-hit states like Washington and California demonstrating a possible pathway out of the crisis.
Washington state appears to be on the downward slope of its case curve and has even sent 400 ventilators to New York, but its governor Jay Inslee said he feared a second wave because of the ongoing patchwork response.
“Even if Washington gets on top of this fully, if another state doesn’t, it can come back and come across our borders two months from now, so this is important to have a national success,” he told NBC.
California is also showing how it is possible to get on top of the crisis, said epidemiologist Brandon Brown of the University of California, Riverside.
“We are now ramping up testing, starting to measure community spread, preparing spaces for when hospitals may be overrun,” he said.
On the sports front, the golf world has reconfigured its schedule-the Masters will now be in November, and the US Open and Ryder Cup will go ahead on back-to-back weeks in September.
“Sports, and particularly the game of golf, are important vehicles for healing and hope,” said PGA of America chief executive Seth Waugh.
France on Monday reported that 833 more people had died from coronavirus infections in hospitals and nursing homes over the previous 24 hours, its highest daily toll since the epidemic began.
“We have not reached the end of the ascent of this epidemic,” Health Minster Olivier Véran told reporters as he announced the new record toll after several days during which the key data had appeared to improve.
Véran said the latest fatalities had brought the total number killed in the coronavirus epidemic in France to 8,911.
The figures were a reminder to France, which has been in lockdown since March 17, that the coronavirus fight was far from won. France is now giving a daily combined toll of deaths in hospitals and nursing homes. Previously it had only given the hospital toll on a daily basis.
Of the new deaths, 605 were registered in hospitals, Véran said. “It is not over. Far from that. The path is long. The figures that I have announced show this,” he said. “Stay at home and continue this confinement effort,” he added.
Véran said that 478 more people had gone into intensive care over the last 24 hours, a higher figure than in previous days. But in more positive news, the health minister said more patients were also leaving intensive care, resulting in a net total of “only” 94 more patients in intensive care, the lowest such figure since the confinement began.
“We see that the confinement has a palpable impact. In France we are beginning to feel it,” he added.
Véran said that the latest figures from statistical modelling showed that the reproduction rate-the number of people an average infected person infects-was falling in France.
If the number is under 1.0 it means the average victim infects less than one person, giving hope that the epidemic will end.
“Thanks to the confinement, this rate is around 1.0 and probably a little under and in some regions clearly under,” he explained, though adding: “In other regions it is above 1.0 so this is why we must stay at home.”
Véran said that in nursing homes, where a total of 2,417 people have died since the start of the epidemic, a “vast operation” of testing would begin to better protect residents.
The United Kingdom coronavirus death toll rose by 439 to 5,373 people as of 1600 GMT on April 5, the health ministry said on Monday.
As of 0800 GMT on April 6, a total of 208,837 people had been tested of which 51,608 were positive, it said.
Iran reported 133 more deaths from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 3,872, a health official said.
Kianoush Jahanpour, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said that 2,089 more people tested positive for COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total infections to 62,589, Iran’s state TV reported.
Jahanpour said 27,039 people have so far recovered and been discharged from hospitals, while 3,987 coronavirus patients are in critical condition.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported that 11 more Iranian MPs tested positive for the coronavirus, which raises the number of infected lawmakers to 34.
Last week, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani tested positive for the novel COVID-19.
Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 183 countries and regions.
Data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University shows worldwide infections surpassing 1.35 million with death toll nearing 75,000. More than 285,000 people have recovered.
