The United States still has the highest case count in the world, with 465,750. This includes 25,960 recoveries and 16,684 fatalities. The state of New York has seen its largest single-day increase in the number of deaths from COVID-19, with 799 new fatalities, bringing the total to 7,067.
Italy has confirmed 143,626 cases including 18,279 deaths and 28,470 recoveries. Spain has reported 152,446 cases in total, including 52,165 recoveries and 15,238 deaths.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea has risen by 30 to 10,480 over the past day, the Health Ministry's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Saturday.
The death toll has risen from 208 to 211 within the same period of time, according to the KCDC.
The largest number of new COVID-19 cases – nine out of 30 – have been registered in the province of Gyeonggi, seven in the city of Daegu, four in the capital of Seoul and three in the North Gyeongsang Province. Twelve new cases are imported ones, the KCDC stressed.
The number of recovered people has risen by 126 to 7,243.
The country has conducted about 486,000 coronavirus tests, with the results of 14,070 tests being processed now.
China has registered 42 new imported cases of COVID-19 and four cases of internal transmission within the past 24 hours, with three persons having died of the disease, the National Health Commission said on Saturday.
The total number of imported COVID-19 cases in China has reached 1,183.
“The National Health Commission received information about 81,953 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus from 31 provinces [regions and municipalities], including 1,089 currently ill people. 141 people are in critical condition, 3,339 have died, 77,525 people have been discharged from hospitals,” the commission said in a statement.
No new cases of the coronavirus have been registered in the province of Hubei, where the city of Wuhan – the epicenter of the pandemic – is located.
The number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong stands at 989 people, with four patients having died and 309 more having been discharged from hospitals. Forty-five people have been infected with the disease in Macao, with 10 of them having been released from medical facilities. The number of infected people in Taiwan amounts to 382, with six of them having died and 91 others recovered.
The number of people, who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United States, has surpassed 500,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
The exact number stands now at 500,399 people, with 18,637 fatalities.
The number of people, who have died of COVID-19 in the United States within the past 24 hours, has surpassed 2,000, for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Johns Hopkins University said.
Within this period of time, the death toll in the United States has increased by 2,508 to 18,637 people.
According to the same university, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 499,252.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is beginning to see the coronavirus levelling like Italy did last week, however, the peak is yet to be reached, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx told reporters.
"For the first time in the United States we are starting to level on a logarithmic phase like Italy did about a week ago," Birx said.
Birx pointed out that despite encouraging signs, the peak has not yet been reached.
The United States has more than 473,093 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Friday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Department of Defense is preparing for the entire state of Texas and the cities of New Orleans and Detroit to become "hot spots" for the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-9), Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffery said on Friday.
The Defense Department was preparing its medical resources and personnel to deal with "future hotspots [such as] New Orleans, Detroit and Texas," Caffery told a Defense Department news conference.
McCaffery acknowledged that most of the beds' capacity for patients in the US Navy hospital ship Comfort and in the Jacob Javits Center in New York City remained unused after the Defense Department had rushed to deploy the facilities following urgent pleas from the city and state governments of New York.
“One of the things we are looking at [is] possibly moving more personnel from the Javitz Center and the Comfort into [New York City] hospitals,” he said.
The Defense Department had already moved around 400 military doctors, nurses and other medical personnel into regular New York City hospitals, McCaffery added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump said during a press briefing on Friday that his administration will make an announcement next week regarding the financial contributions by the United States to the World Health Organization (WHO).
"We're going to have an announcement on the World Health Organization sometime next week," Trump said. "As you know, we give them approximately $500 million a year and we're going to be talking about that subject next week."
Trump has accused the WHO of bias toward China regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
ROME (Sputnik) - Italy extends the nationwide COVID-19 quarantine until May 3, but will reopen bookstores and children’s shops starting April 14, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday.
Earlier in the day, the country updated its coronavirus case count by 3,951 to 147,577. The death toll, the biggest in the world, has risen by 570 to 18,849.
"We have prepared a decree to extend the restrictive measures until May 3. This is a difficult and necessary decision for which I take full political responsibility," Conte said at a press conference.
According to the prime minister, the decision was made after a series of meetings with ministers, experts, local authorities and trade unions.
He added that the epidemiological curve was now giving certain hope and the quarantine was bearing fruit.
The extension of the restrictions applies to production activities, except for the forestry industry.
"We cannot launch everything in full force so far. But I promise that if necessary conditions are in place before May 3, we will try to take action. Starting April 14, bookshops, stationary shops, shops for children newborn and forestry industry will resume," he added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Global death toll from the coronavirus infection has surpassed 100,000, according to the latest statistics compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of deaths currently stands at 100,376, including 18,849 in Italy, 17,925 in the United States and 15,970 in Spain.
The total number of confirmed cases worldwide now stands at 1,650,210, the number of recoveries at 368,669, the university says.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow will start to introduce a pass system gradually from next week amid the coronavirus pandemic, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday.
"A pass system in the city is an inevitable additional restriction and inconvenience. But there is no choice when it comes to the health and life of a large number of people. Especially when we see that, unfortunately, not everyone respects these established restrictions. Next week, we will gradually introduce a pass system. At the first stage, we will introduce it for going to work and back, at the second stage for other purposes, and at the third stage, if necessary, for movement within a district," Sobyanin said.
The mayor noted that the timing of the introduction of each of the stages would be announced additionally.
The pass system will be declarative, the city authorities reserve the right to verify the accuracy of the information provided by citizens, he added.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The coronavirus outbreak has killed more than 17,000 people in the United States with only Italy having a larger death toll, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed on Friday.
As of 4:35 GMT, fatalities in the US reached 17,836, according to the university’s Coronavirus Resource Centre.
Over 473,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the US, which is the largest number of cases among all countries. The US death toll from the viral infection is the second largest, surpassed only by Italy where 18,279 people succumbed to the disease.
NEW YORK (Sputnik) - New York State has confirmed an additional 777 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of fatalities to 7,844, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press briefing on Friday.
"The bad news is we continue to lose a tremendous number of lives and endure great pain: 777 lives lost," Cuomo said.
On a positive note, Cuomo added, New York has seen a "dramatic" decline in the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 infection.
LONDON (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the United Kingdom rose by 980 over a day to 8,958, the Department of Health and Social Care said Friday.
"As of 5pm [16:00 GMT] on 9 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 8,958 have sadly died," the ministry tweeted.
As of Friday morning, further 5,706 people have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 73,758, with over 256,000 people tested since the start of the outbreak.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told reporters at a briefing that the government was ramping up testing, opening new drive-through testing centers and mega labs across the country.
ROME (Sputnik) - Italy has registered 3,951 new coronavirus cases and 570 deaths over the past day, Angelo Borrelli, the head of the National Civil Protection Department, said on Friday.
"Today, we have registered 570 new deaths. … as for the trend of the growth in the number of infections, it shows a rise of 3,951 new cases compared to yesterday which brings the total number of cases to 147,577 including all, people who have currently tested positive, those who have died and those who have recovered," Borrelli said at a press conference.
The total number of people who have recovered from the virus is at 30,455, while the death toll stands at 18,849, according to the Civil Protection Department's press release.
NEW YORK (Sputnik) - The number of the confirmed novel coronavirus (CVOID-19) cases in the US state of New Jersey has increased to 54,588 on Friday, while the death toll has risen to 1,932, Governor Phil Murphy said in a press briefing.
"Since yesterday's briefing, we have been notified we have 3,627 more residents who have received positive test results. So that puts our statewide total at 54,588," Murphy said. "We also know that we have lost another 233 of our fellow residents since yesterday, and that total number now stands at 1,932."
Murphy also said that 7,570 patients had been hospitalized, of which 1,679 are receiving medical assistance in intensive care units.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) death toll in the US capital area reached the mark of 300 while the total number of positive cases surpassed 13,000, local officials said on Friday.
"The District’s reported data for 9 April 2020 includes 137 new positive coronavirus cases, bringing the District’s overall positive case total to 1,660," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement.
The US capital registered six new fatalities of people between 61 and 89 year old. "Tragically, 38 District residents have lost their lives due to COVID-19," Bowser added.
The state of Maryland registered 171 COVID-19 related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, Governor spokesperson Kata Hall said on Twitter.
"As of this morning, the Maryland Health Department is reporting 6,968 confirmed cases of COVIDー19 in Maryland. We have added 783 cases since yesterday," she added.
The state of Virginia's health department reported 121 deaths and 4,509 total cases.
As of this morning, the @MDHealthDept is reporting 6,968 confirmed cases of #COVIDー19 in Maryland.
— Kata D. Hall (@katadhall) April 10, 2020
We have added 783 cases since yesterday.
Negative tests: 37,480
Number of deaths: 171
Released from isolation: 397https://t.co/1RfN0kNmTz
TORONTO (Sputnik) - The number of Canadians confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has risen to 21,243, Public Health Agency data revealed on Friday.
The Canadian virus-related death toll climbed to 531 from 461 on Thursday.
The province of Quebec continues to lead Canada with 10,912 confirmed COVID-19 infections. Officials have attributed the spike to Quebec’s increased testing capacity.
Ontario has recorded the most deaths due to the novel coronavirus - 222. Concerns are also mounting that Canada’s most populous province’s low per-capita testing rate may be undermining the accuracy of the data.
Canadian officials have stressed that the coming days and weeks will be crucial in the fight to stem the spread of the virus as warmer spring temperatures and major religious holidays approach.
According to projections from the country’s Public Health Agency, 11,000 to 22,000 deaths are expected over the course of the pandemic, at an infection rate of 2.5 to 5 percent of the total population. Data also revealed that between 22,580 and 31,850 confirmed cases of COVID-19 are expected by 16 April.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva created an advisory board of a dozen prominent individuals for counseling on coronavirus challenges and its economic impact, the Fund said in a statement on Friday.
"Kristalina Georgieva... today convened a new external advisory group to provide perspectives from around the globe on key developments and policy issues, including policy responses to the exceptional challenges the world now faces due to the novel coronavirus and its economic impact," the statement said.
The group will meet a few times a year with the IMF’s Managing Director, Deputy Managing Directors, and a sub-set of IMF department Directors. Among its 12 members are Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, Mark Malloch Brown, former United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of Singapore and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Estimates published on Friday by the World Health Organisation put the number of infected people worldwide at 1,521,252, including 92,798 deaths.
Europe continues to lead the infection tally with 799,696 confirmed cases, followed by Americas with 493,173 cases. Africa has the lowest infection rate, with only 8,789 officially recorded cases.
WHO declared the pandemic and emergency in early March.
NEW YORK (Sputnik) - New York State has confirmed an additional 777 deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of fatalities to 7,844, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press briefing on Friday.
"The bad news is we continue to lose a tremendous number of lives and endure great pain: 777 lives lost," Cuomo said.
On a positive note, Cuomo added, New York has seen a "dramatic" decline in the number of people hospitalised for COVID-19 infection.
LONDON (Sputnik) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is undergoing treatment for COVID-19, already walks around his ward and talks with doctors, a spokesperson for the prime minister's office said on Friday.
"The PM has been able to do short walks, between periods of rest, as part of the care he is receiving to aid his recovery. He has spoken to his doctors and thanks the whole clinical team for the incredible care he has received," the spokesperson said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Twenty-one Russian specialists remaining at the space centre in French Guiana's Kourou will be repatriated by the end of the month, Andrey Okhlopkov, the director-general of the Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure (TsENKI), which is a subsidiary of Russian state corporation Roscosmos, said on Friday.
"There is now a small group of 21 people left together with [employees of Russian aerospace company] NPO Lavochkin. [They are engaged in] ensuring safety of equipment. We are planning to evacuate them to our homeland for undergoing quarantine from [April] 27 to 30," Okhlopkov said during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The official noted that the majority of Russian personnel had already left the Kourou space center due the coronavirus pandemic, adding that their presence there was not required since there were no planned launches from the space port.
MINSK (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related fatalities in Belarus has increased by three to 19 over the past 24 hours, 1,793 patients are currently in hospitals, the press service for the country's Health Ministry said on Friday.
As of Thursday, Belarus recorded 1,486 cases of the disease and 16 fatalities. On Friday, the total number of cases nears 2,000, according to the official internet portal on the coronavirus situation.
"As of April 10, 1,793 people diagnosed with the coronavirus are in hospitals. The Health Ministry draws attention to the fact that the increase in the number of COVID-19 patients is progressive and controlled ... 19 [patients] with chronic diseases and confirmed coronavirus infection have died," the press service said.
The ministry added that 169 patients have recovered from the disease.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has sent over 60,000 coronavirus test kits to member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and will provide 50,000 more soon, chief public health official Anna Popova said on Friday.
"Russia is providing certain assistance to the countries of the union, as well as to our partners from the Republic of Moldova. We have provided our colleagues with test kits for more than 60,000 tests and are ready to continue providing the necessary assistance. In the near future, we will provide additional test kits for over 50,000 tests to the countries of the union," Popova, who is the head of consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council's video conference, broadcast by the Rossiya 24 channel.
She specified that later on Friday, Russia would send reagents for 20,000 tests to Armenia and 10 infrared thermometers to Kyrgyzstan to equip checkpoints.
The EAEU consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
KIEV (Sputnik) - Ukraine has registered 311 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, and the total number of people infected with COVID-19 climbed to 2,203, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
Moreover, the country reported 12 COVID-19 fatalities over the given period, and the overall death toll increased to 69.
"As of April 10, 09:00 [06:00 GMT], Ukraine has 2,203 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, 69 patients died and 61 fully recovered. Over the past day, 311 new cases were detected," the ministry wrote on the official Facebook page.
According to the ministry, the northern Chernihiv region is the most affected with 366 cases of the coronavirus, followed by Kiev with 348 cases.
According to the Indian Health Ministry, the nation has recorded 896 cases and 37 fatalities over the past 24 hours.
CHISINAU (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Romania climbed by 265 on Friday to exceed 5,400 while the death toll from the disease has reached 257, up from 229 the previous day, the country’s Strategic Communication Group on the coronavirus said in its Friday update.
At the same time, 729 people have been discharged from hospitals with complete recoveries.
In mid-March, President Klaus Iohannis ordered schools and universities shut and placed a ban on travel to a number of countries with high infection rates.
Although numbers are on the rise throughout the European continent, Eastern Europe and the Balkans still have a fraction of the cases suffered by Western European nations.
In neighbouring Hungary, the authorities have confirmed a total of 1,190 cases of the disease so far, including 77 fatalities. Meanwhile, 112 patients have fully recovered.
Demanding the government open factories with limited staff so as to avoid losses to exporters, the Federation of Indian Exporters has said that at least 15 million jobs will be lost in the exports sector due to closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats are blocking a 251 Billion Dollar funding boost for Small Businesses which will help them keep their employees. It should be for only that reason, with no additions. We should have a big Infrastructure Phase Four with Payroll Tax Cuts & more. Big Economic Bounceback!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 10, 2020
NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe held phone talks on Friday and praised the mutual work of their countries to support citizens impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, according to an Indian Ministry of External Affairs press release.
“Both leaders expressed appreciation for the support and facilitation provided during the present crisis to each other’s citizens present in their respective territories, and agreed to continue such coordination,” the press release read.
During the phone talks, Modi and Abe also addressed the ongoing epidemiological and economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and shared measures taken in each of their respective countries.
The two prime ministers also discussed the potential to further strengthen the partnership between both countries, which could also result in finding global solutions to curb the outbreak.
Modi and US President Donald Trump held phone talks on Saturday. The Indian prime minister expressed solidarity with the US, the current epicenter of the global outbreak, and both parties expressed their desire to find mutual solutions to combat the global pandemic.
YEREVAN (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Armenia has reached 937 with 16 of them being registered over the past 24 hours, the Armenian Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
"A total of 937 cases have been registered in Armenia, 149 patients have recovered. Eleven people have died," the health authorities said in a statement.
As of now, 777 patient are receiving treatment. More than 5,000 people have tested negative for the disease since the outbreak.
In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, the authorities declared a state of emergency from 16 March to 14 April.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Sputnik) – The Palestinian authorities have confirmed at total of 266 cases of COVID-19, Ibrahim Melhem, a spokesman for the Palestinian National Authority, said on Friday, adding that three new cases were registered over the past day.
"Two of the those infected were registered in the Artas village, south of [the city of ] Bethlehem," Melhem said, adding that COVID-19 was detected in a 7-year-old girl and a 25-year-old woman.
The spokesman added that the third case was confirmed in the province of Hebron in a 20-year-old woman.
According to the Palestinian health authorities, 45 patients have fully recovered, and the death toll remains at one.
TASHKENT/NUR-SULTAN (Sputnik) - Uzbekistan has registered 42 new cases of the coronavirus disease over the past 24 hours, and the total tally climbed to 624 cases, the Health Ministry said on Friday.
"As of April 10 … the number of the coronavirus cases in Uzbekistan reached 624," the ministry wrote on its Telegram channel.
According to the health authorities, all the new cases were detected in people who had already been admitted to health facilities.
In neighboring Kazakhstan, the number of the coronavirus cases reached 802, and the ninth COVID-19 patient died, the Kazakh Health Ministry said.
The death was registered in Almaty, the ministry added.
TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Over one-half of Iran's COVID-19 patients have recovered, the Health Ministry's spokesman, Kianush Jahanpur, said on Friday, adding that the country has recorded 1,972 new cases over the past 24 hours.
"Over the past 24 hours, 1,972 new coronavirus cases have been registered. Taking this into consideration, the number of confirmed cases amounts to 68,192," Jahanpur said, as aired by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network.
He added that the death toll had increased by 122 to 4,232, and 35,465 people — more than 50 percent of all those infected — had recovered from the coronavirus.
BEIJING (Sputnik) - China's Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia, has recorded 28 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus among Chinese nationals who have returned from the neighbouring country, the provincial health commission said in a statement on Friday.
On Thursday, the commission reported there were 40 new imported cases of the disease.
According to the local health authorities, the virus was detected in 11 more asymptomatic patients who also arrived from Russia.
So far, the province has registered 154 imported COVID-19 cases with another 155 asymptomatic cases.
In China's official COVID-19 statistics, asymptomatic cases are listed separately and are not included in the total number of confirmed cases.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has registered 1,786 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, with the total count surging to 11,917, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Friday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has recorded 1,786 COVID-19 cases in 57 regions," the centre said, adding that the country has so far confirmed 11,917 COVID-19 cases in 82 regions.
Of all the new cases, 1,124 have been registered in Moscow, 182 in Moscow region and 58 in the Komi Republic.
The death toll has increased by 18 to 94 over the past 24 hours.
A total of 97 people have recovered from the coronavirus and have been discharged from hospitals across Russia over the past 24 hours, the centre said, adding that the total number of recoveries has reached 795.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Nineteen COVID-19 cases have been registered in Syria's areas controlled by the national government, the Russian and Syrian coordination centres said on Friday in a joint statement.
The military praised Damascus' effort on disinfecting streets and public establishments, noting that a ban on public events and the so-called quarantine vacation for ministries and agencies have been extended until 16 April. Apart from that, Damascus keeps opening additional isolators and life-support departments, equipped with artificial lung ventilators, making effort to identify all the infected people, and allocating extra funds for medical staffers.
"Thanks to the implemented effort, only 19 COVID-19 cases have been registered in areas controlled by Damascus," the centres said.
The Russian and Syrian coordination centers also commended Syria for briefing the World Health Organisation (WHO) on all the developments.
"The Syrian government provides the WHO and other profile international medical organisations with full information on the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the controlled areas. Representatives of these organisations acknowledge Syria's coronavirus response as efficient," the statement read on.
Since May 30, Moscow residents of all ages are allowed to leave homes only for going to work, receiving urgent medical services, buying essentials in a nearby store or pharmacy, walking pets and taking the trash out.
"We see that around 3 million people make long trips daily, which is one-quarter of the 12 million of people living in Moscow. The remaining people make only short walks or trips, related to shops and pharmacies. This is a balanced situation for now, we are striking a balance, although this is certainly not easy," Sobyanin said.
The mayor added that the number of metro users in Moscow had reduced by 80 percent, and the number of those traveling through land transport was seeing a 70-75 percent decrease, with car traffic reducing by almost 50 percent.
"Moscow residents have become self-disciplined. Moreover, they are also calling on their neighbors and their close ones to respect the regime [of self-isolation], this is why we manage to secure the balance," Sobyanin went on to say.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has expressed the belief that the situation with people movement across the city is now balanced, considering restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
Sobyanin assured that Moscow authorities will do everything possible to overcome the coronavirus outbreak with minimal losses.
"As [President] Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] has said, everything passes, and this too shall pass. We will cope. The only question is what losses we will sustain. We should try to overcome this with minimal losses, and we will do everything for this", Sobyanin said.
Moscow has registered nearly no cases of coronavirus infection through contact with Chinese citizens, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said in an interview with Sputnik.
"Basically, we have almost no cases of infection from Chinese citizens," Sobyanin said.
The mayor noted, however, that it became clear following the coronavirus outbreak in China's Wuhan that the Russian capital would be affected as well, taking into consideration the significant volume of travel between the countries. This is why urgent measures were implemented to prevent the coronavirus from spreading into Moscow and Russia in general.
"The system was not ready for tracing every single person [every tourist from China], where they all stay, where they live," Sobyanin recalled.
The mayor said that best medical facilities are needed to efficiently counter the coronavirus, tents cannot be sufficient, stressing the need to apply advanced technologies.
"One cannot cope with it without any special effort, on a football field. Powerful multitask hospitals are needed, only they can serve as the nucleus and ensure efficient coronavirus response, as they have top-tier teams of doctors and nurses. One cannot just erect tents and say: so, you go there and we will be running around you. This is not enough. This has no sense," Sobyanin said.
Moscow is providing its best facilities to COVID-19 patients, such as the new infectious diseases hospital in Kommunarka, the new perinatal center and the 15th Filatov pediatric clinical hospital, the mayor noted.
"High-tech solutions, oxygen availability, artificial lung ventilators and life-support departments are needed to counter the coronavirus. It should be understood that a significant share of patients suffer from serious chronic diseases, and that it will be necessary to provide surgical, gynecological, oncological and literally all kind of services as well," Sobyanin added.
He went on to say that Moscow has started boosting its production sector and even creating reserves in order to ensure efficient disinfection of the city amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"In the beginning we lacked disinfection facilities, but the production industry ramps up volumes, and we have already started creating reserves ... to ensure smooth and coherent disinfection of the city," Sobyanin said.
The mayor praised the city's housing and communal services system, adding that Moscow is facing no lack of equipment and forces for disinfection.
The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in South Korea in the preceding 24 hours has fallen to 27, and for the first time since late February, no new cases have been reported in the disease’s epicenter in the country, Daegu, the Health Ministry's Centers for Disease and Prevention (KCDC) reported on Friday.
As of midnight on Friday (15:00 GMT on Thursday), 27 new cases had been reported in the country, a significant drop from the record number of new positive tests registered in a 24-hour period of 909, reported on 29 February. A total of 39 new cases were reported by the KCDC on Thursday.
Daegu has been the center of the outbreak in South Korea, as 6,807 of the country’s total 10,450 positive tests have been reported in the south-central city, where the disease spread through a church community. However, for the first time in over a month, no new cases of the disease were reported in Daegu.
A total of four new deaths were confirmed by the KCDC in Friday’s statistical bulletin, taking the overall death toll since the start of the outbreak to 208.
Stringent social distancing measures, including the banning of public events and religious gatherings, are in force in South Korea until 19 April.
The annual St. Petersburg International Legal Forum will open on Friday in a virtual format to bring together the world’s leading legal and health professionals discussing legal aspects of life amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current situation forced the organizers to abandon the traditional format, switch to an online format and rename the event, which was supposed to become the 10th anniversary edition, into "9 1/2th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum: Rule of Corona."
The forum is expected to feature such speakers as Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council; Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the secretary general of the Council of Europe; and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
All of them will take part in a plenary session on Friday, which will be opened by Russian Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko.
The forum will fully focus on the role of law in fighting the pandemic. Politicians and legal professionals will discuss whether law can become one of the instruments in countering the epidemic.
The next day, as part of the forum, Chuychenko will host a meeting with his colleagues from Armenia, Uzbekistan and Hong Kong.
The forum will run through 12 April. According to the Justice Ministry, it may become the world’s largest online event of such type. As of 8 April, more than 9,000 participants from 82 countries have registered to take part in the forum.
BANGKOK (Sputnik) - The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Thailand increased by 50 over the past 24 hours, which brings the total toll of those infected to 2,473, while the death toll rose by one, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman of the national coronavirus response centre, said on Friday.
"Today, we registered 50 new cases of the infection. One more person has died. I offer my condolences to the family [of the deceased person]," Wisanuyothin said at a briefing.
The spokesman added that the total death toll reached 33, while 1,013 patients had recovered so far.
In a bid to curb the spread of the disease, the authorities have shut borders of 15 out of 77 provinces of the country — 12 southern provinces and three northeastern provinces, Wisanuyothin said, adding that the eastern resort city of Pattaya in the province of Chonburi were closed for non-residents.
China has registered 38 new imported cases of COVID-19 and four cases of internal transmission within the past 24 hours, with one person having died of the disease, the National Health Commission said on Friday.
The total number of imported COVID-19 cases in China has reached 1,141.
“The National Health Commission received information about 81,907 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus from 31 provinces [regions and municipalities], including 1,116 currently ill people. 144 people are in critical condition, 3,336 have died, 77,455 people have been discharged from hospitals,” the commission said in a statement.
No new cases of the coronavirus have been registered in the province of Hubei, where the city of Wuhan – the epicenter of the pandemic – is located.
The number of confirmed cases in Hong Kong stands at 973 people, with four patients having died and 293 more having been discharged from hospitals. Forty-five people have been infected with the disease in Macao, with 10 of them having been released from medical facilities. The number of infected people in Taiwan amounts to 380, with five of them having died and 80 others recovered.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in Germany since the start of the outbreak has risen by 5,323 in the preceding 24 hours to 113,525, the Robert Koch Institute announced on Friday.
A further 266 people have died in the previous 24 hours after contracting the disease, the institute reported. The overall COVID-19 death toll in Germany now stands at 2,373.
More than 53,000 people in the country have recovered completely after contracting the coronavirus disease, the institute stated.
On Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her hopes that the Eurogroup, an informal group of eurozone finance ministers, would be able to agree on a package of suitable measures to mitigate the ongoing economic impacts of the coronavirus disease outbreak.
