The latest WHO data update shows that 85,679 new COVID-19 cases and 6,262 fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours.
It added that at the moment, most infections — 880,106 cases — were registered in the European region.
According to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the global number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed 1.8 million, with over 112,000 fatalities.
A month ago, WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
Lockdowns and similar restrictions that have been introduced in high-income countries may not bring the desired effect in poorer nations where people depend on daily on-site labor, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Monday.
"In countries with large poor populations, the stay-at-home orders and other restrictions used in some high-income countries may not be practical. Many poor people, migrants and refugees are already living in overcrowded conditions with few resources and little access to health care," Tedros told a regular media briefing.
The WHO chief noted that there were reports from across the globe about many people faced with the danger of losing their daily labor and, therefore, access to food amid coronavirus-related restrictions.
"Meanwhile, schools have closed for an estimated 1.4 billion children. This has halted their education, opened some to increased risk of abuse, and deprived many children of their primary source of food," Tedros stressed.
He reiterated his call on all countries to ensure that lockdowns and similar physical distancing measures were not at the expense of human rights.
MONTEVIDEO (Sputnik) - Medical personnel in Latin American countries are being forced to fight not only the coronavirus disease but also discrimination by groups of people who believe that doctors pose health risks by being virus carriers, Miguel Ortega, a member of the Colombian Dignidad Medica organiыation, said.
Doctors in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico claim that they are constantly being threatened, and prevented from entering their homes and from using public transport or going to stores because some people think that they are contagious.
"We are victims of ill-treatment by the population. Some call us ‘heroes,’ while others say that we are responsible for infecting healthy people with COVID-19. The truth is that they make us feel like we are becoming slaves to evil spirits," Ortega said.
Such a high level of discrimination has not yet been observed in other countries in the region, but some health authorities are starting to turn to the idea of introducing mental health support for medical personnel.
The US state of Maryland has recorded the first death of a prison inmate from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the state’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said in a statement on Monday.
"The Department recorded its first death related to the COVID-19 virus on Saturday," the statement said. "The inmate was in his 60s and had serious underlying medical conditions."
Maryland authorities have confirmed 93 COVID-19 cases in ten prisons in the state. The infected persons include 18 inmates and 75 officers, probation employees, contractors, health and administrative officials.
The COVID-19 toll in Turkey has grown by over 4,000 cases to a total of 61,049, including 1,296 fatalities, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Monday.
A total of 4,093 new cases have been confirmed over the past 24 hours and 98 people have died, Koca said on Twitter.
According to the update, 3,957 Turkish patients with COVID-19 have recovered.
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Serbia has grown by 424 to a total of 4,054 cases, including 85 fatalities, the Serbian government said on Monday.
According to the government's update, posted on Twitter, 20,958 people have been tested for COVID-19 in Serbia, as of 3 p.m. (16:00 GMT) on Monday.
The latest situation update from the Serbian health ministry on Sunday stated 3,630 cases, including 80 fatalities.
Serbia declared a state of emergency over COVID-19 on March 15 and has a comprehensive set of measures in place to curb the spread of infection, including curfews and an economic support package to mitigate the pandemic's economic impact.
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Hungary has increased to a total of 1,458, including 109 fatalities, according to an update from the Hungarian government's COVID-19 task force on Monday.
The latest update from Hungary on Sunday stated 1,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 99 fatalities.
Recovery cases are at 120, the task force said on its website.
According to the update, an airplane carrying 1,365 masks from China landed in Budapest earlier in the day. Hungary expects to receive six more Chinese flights with medical supplies throughout Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was cited as saying.
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Hungary has increased to a total of 1,458, including 109 fatalities, according to an update from the Hungarian government's COVID-19 task force on Monday.
The latest update from Hungary on Sunday stated 1,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 99 fatalities.
Recovery cases are at 120, the task force said on its website.
According to the update, an airplane carrying 1,365 masks from China landed in Budapest earlier in the day. Hungary expects to receive six more Chinese flights with medical supplies throughout Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was cited as saying.
The number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates has grown by 172 over the past 24 hours to a total of 852, and three more fatalities brought the death toll to 25, the UAE government said.
Citing UAE Health Ministry spokeswoman Farida Hosani, the government said that the total number of COVID-19 recoveries in the country had reached 852, "with 172 cases fully recovered today after receiving treatment."
"We are increasing testing across the UAE and an additional 23,380 Covid-19 tests were performed. People of determination will also be able to get tested through home testing service the #UAEGov provides," Hosani was further quoted as saying during a briefing on the COVID-19 response in the UAE.
The official said that three new fatalities had been confirmed over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 25.
Acknowledging that "no studies could give a specific timescale for when the Covid-19 cases may finally peak before we see the curve flattened," Hosani said that precautionary measures and practices like social distancing and increased testing were expected to slow the spread of infection.
Countries must base imposing or lifting restrictions over the coronavirus infection on the need to protect human health, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Monday.
"Some countries and communities have now endured several weeks of social and economic restrictions. Some countries are considering when they can lift these restrictions, others are considering whether and when to introduce them. In both cases, these decisions must be based, first and foremost, on protecting human health," the WHO chief told a press conference.
A total of 291 new cases of the novel coronavirus respiratory disease, COVID-19, were registered in Japan on Monday, including 91 cases in Tokyo, the nation’s NHK broadcaster reported.
As of 10:30 p.m. Monday Japan time (13:30 GMT), the number of people confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus in Japan amounted to 7,688, according to NHK. Tokyo accounts for the biggest number of cases, 2,158, followed by Osaka with 835 cases, as well as Kanagawa (559), Chiba (486) and Saitama (430) prefectures that neighbour the Japanese capital.
The broadcaster added that five deaths caused by the disease were reported in four regions of the country on Monday, bringing the total nationwide tally to 143 people.
This excludes 712 infections and 12 deaths among passengers and crew members of a cruise liner that was quarantined off Japan’s Yokohama in February.
The Russian authorities hope that the number of new coronavirus cases in the country will grow for no more than a week, the country's chief public health official, Anna Popova, said on Monday.
"Today's development of the situation suggests that a certain number of days, we hope, no more than a week, there will be an increase in the number of cases," Popova said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow will start testing people for immunity to coronavirus on Tuesday, Russia's chief public health official Anna Popova said on Monday.
"We will start testing people in Moscow tomorrow, and will learn how protected our medical workers are," Popova said at a meeting on the epidemiological situation in Russia broadcast by the Rossiya 24 channel.
All three indicators tracking the progress of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City are going down, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press briefing on Monday.
"I’m pleased to report we do see all the indicators moving in the right direction moving downward together," de Blasio said.
According to de Blasio, the number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19 has been decreasing over the past few days. The number of residents being treated in Intensive Care Units and the percentage of people who test positive for the virus have also dropped.
South Korea has registered a record low daily increase of coronavirus cases, only 25 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the country in the past 24 hours, three new fatalities were registered, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
A day earlier, 32 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths from COVID-19 were confirmed in South Korea.
The country’s total coronavirus death toll currently stands at 217, while the total number of confirmed cases is 10,537.
KCDC said on Monday that 79 new recoveries were registered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country to 7,447. On Sunday, the total number of recovered individuals in South Korea surpassed 70 percent.
China has registered two new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, while the day before there were no new deaths from the viral disease, with the country’s total coronavirus death toll currently standing at 3,341, the National Health Commission said on Monday.
There are now 82,160 confirmed coronavirus cases in China. Over 1,156 people remain hospitalized, 121 of them are in grave condition. More than 77,660 have been discharged from hospitals.
Out of the 108 new coronavirus cases registered in the past 24 hours, 98 are imported. The day before, China registered 99 new coronavirus cases, all but two of them imported.
China registered 61 asymptomatic coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, 12 of them imported, the National Health Commission said on Monday. The day before, 63 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases were registered in China.
The US has registered 1,514 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US has topped 555,000, with the death toll standing at over 22,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States has surpassed 554,000 while the death toll stands at over 21,900 according to data from the Coronavirus Resource Center of the Johns Hopkins University.
As of 02:00 Moscow time on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday) there were 554,226 coronavirus cases in the US, including 21,994 deaths from COVID-19. New York City alone had 6,898 coronavirus fatalities, the Johns Hopkins University count showed.
The United States currently has the largest number of both coronavirus cases and fatalities out of all the countries, it is followed by Spain (over 166,000 cases and more than 17,000 deaths) and Italy (over 156,000 cases and more than 19,800 deaths).
The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Israel has grown to 11,145, including 103 fatalities, the country's Health Ministry said on Sunday evening.
The previous update from the Israeli ministry on the morning of Sunday stated 10,878 cases of COVID-19.
According to the update, the toll has grown by 267 new cases confirmed over the past several hours to 9 p.m. (18:00 GMT). Of total 11,145 cases, 183 patients with COVID-19 are in critical condition and 131 patients are on ventilators, the ministry said.
The death toll from COVID-19 in Israel has grown to 103, while 1,627 people have recovered, according to the update.
The death toll from COVID-19 in Canada rose to 674 in a day, the country's public health agency said.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases currently stands at 23,719.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of people infected with the new coronavirus in France has reached 95,403, including 14,393 fatalities, the French Public Health Agency said on Sunday.
The agency said 1,613 new COVID-19 cases had been detected over the past 24 hours, bringing the toll to 95,403 cases.
The number of fatalities has grown by 315 to a total of 14,393, the authorities said.
According to the update, 31,826 French patients with COVID-19 remain hospitalized, of whom 34 percent are people aged below 60, including 94 people younger than 30 years old.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The number of people infected with coronavirus globally has increased to 1,696,588, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, adding that the death toll now stood at 105,952.
According to the latest WHO data update, 85,679 new COVID-19 cases and 6,262 fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours.
It added that at the moment, most infections — 880,106 cases — were registered in the European region.
According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the global number of COVID-19 cases has surpassed 1.8 million, with over 112,000 fatalities.
A month ago, WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has confirmed a total of 84,279 COVID-19 cases and 10,621 fatalities as of Sunday, the UK Department of Health and Social Care said in a situation update.
"As of 9am on 12 April [08:00 GMT], 350,575 tests have concluded, with 18,000 tests carried out on 11 April. 282,374 people have been tested, of whom 84,279 tested positive. As of 5pm on 11 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 10,621 have died," the statement read.
The health department said some people had been tested more than once "for clinical reasons."
According to the statement, the figure for the number of tests excludes data from Northern Ireland.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Turkey currently stands at 56,956, the country's health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter.
Justice Minister of the autonomous Hirshabelle region in south-central Somalia, Khalif Mumin Tohow, has died from the COVID-19, a day after having been tested positive for coronavirus, local media reported on Sunday.
According to Somalia's Garowe Online news outlet, the minister was taken to a hospital in Mogadishu on Saturday with the diagnosed coronavirus infection. Tohow was said to be in critical condition.
Other local media reported that the official had recently returned from the United Kingdom, where the total number of COVID-19 cases stands at almost 80,000.
This is the second reported coronavirus-related death in Somalia. The first fatal case was announced on Wednesday. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the Horn of Africa nation stands at 21.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia went up by record 429 overnight to more than 4,400, Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali said on Sunday.
"The number of people infected with coronavirus has reached 4,462 after 429 new cases have been registered," Abdelali said at a daily briefing, adding that 761 people had recovered. Seven patients have died over a day, and the total count of fatalities stands at 59.
Most new cases of infection were detected in the capital of Riyadh — 198 people; and Mecca — 103 people.
The Saudi authorities have previously ordered the repatriation of their citizens by April 14 and prepared 11,000 hotel rooms for isolating people returning from abroad.
A further 268 people have died in the past 24 hours after contracting COVID-19 in Belgium, raising the overall death toll in the country to 3,600, the national coronavirus response center said Sunday.
Health authorities in the European country also reported an additional 1,629 new cases of the disease in the preceding 24 hours, taking the total number of positive tests in the country to 24,647.
At present, 5,353 people are currently receiving treatment in the country’s hospitals. A total of 6,463 people have been discharged.
Elsewhere in Europe, Austria’s Ministry of the Interior announced 13 more coronavirus-related deaths, raising the death toll since the start of the outbreak to 350.
Austrian health authorities confirmed that the total number of cases has reached 13,945.
Both countries are reporting decreases in the number of hospital admissions and new cases compared to the end of March.
Brussels and Vienna have both introduced stringent social distancing measures to curb the spread of the disease, with the expectation that these will be gradually lifted at the start of May.
President Reuven Rivlin won’t grant Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz a 14-day extension to form a government, his office announced.
“If the two do not sign an agreement by midnight tomorrow, and if the number of recommendations for each candidate does not change, the task of forming the government will return to the Knesset and a period of 21 days will begin during which Knesset members can form a majority to recommend an agreed-on candidate to form a government, who would have 14 days to do so,” the statement said.
COVID-19 could have a devastating impact in Libya and threatens hundreds of thousands of people, as health care professionals in the country have been called on to provide assistance on the frontlines of the ongoing conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a press release on Sunday.
“Today, some medical professionals who need to be trained on COVID-19 infection prevention protocols keep being called back to the frontlines to treat the injured. Clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed caring for war-wounded and those with chronic illnesses, so their capacity to receive COVID-19 patients is limited. They need more support and resources to face this challenge,” ICRC’s head of operations in Libya Willem de Jonge said in the press release.
De Jonge also urged the Libyan authorities to ensure that deliveries of humanitarian aid can reach those who need it, amid lockdown measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, including curfews and border closures.
Additionally, Libyan citizens are being forced to return to their homes near the conflict’s frontlines over fears that they could spread COVID-19 among their elderly relatives, ICRC said.
“Displaced Libyans, including some of our colleagues, have told us they have no choice but to return to their homes near the frontline, for fear they could bring the virus into the homes of their elderly parents or family members,” Maria Carolina, ICRC’s deputy head for Tripoli, commented.
As of Saturday, Libyan authorities have confirmed 25 cases of COVID-19, resulting in the death of one person.
Clashes between troops loyal to the Government of National Accord, Libya’s UN-backed government, and the Libyan National Army have continued despite international efforts to reach a lasting ceasefire in the country.
A total of 10,878 cases of COVID-19 have now been reported in Israel since the start of the outbreak, resulting in the deaths of 103 people, Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed on Sunday.
According to the ministry, 174 people who have contracted the disease are currently in a critical condition in hospital. A total of 123 people are currently being treated with ventilators.
As of Sunday morning, 1,388 people have recovered after contracting the disease, the ministry noted.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that all flights to Israel will be suspended until the government can ensure that international arrivals can be transferred to state-run quarantine hotels, a source in the government said on Saturday.
A total of 102 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Uzbekistan over the preceding 24 hours as the overall number of positive tests confirmed in the country surpasses 790, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
“As of 10:00 [05:00 GMT] on April 12, 2020, the number of cases of the coronavirus disease is 796,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
On Saturday evening, medical authorities in Uzbekistan confirmed the death of one more person who had tested positive for the disease, raising the COVID-19 death toll in the country to four. The individual, a 59-year-old woman, had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage.
Uzbekistan confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 15 March, identified as a woman who had recently returned from France.
Lockdown measures have been in force in the country since April 1. Citizens over 65 years of age are forbidden to leave their homes, and almost 90,000 people are in state-ordered quarantine.
The Uzbek government has banned all international travel until 30 April, and inter-regional passenger travel has also been suspended.
Russian and Italian medics, providing round-the-clock care at a field hospital in the Italian city of Bergamo, have so far discharged four patients with COVID-19 who have responded well to treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
“At the field hospital, medical and nursing teams are working round-the-clock to receive and treat patients with the coronavirus disease. At present, there are 24 patients in the hospital being treated by Russian and Italian doctors … There have already been positive results and four patients with mild symptoms have been discharged from the hospital,” the ministry said in a statement.
Eight teams of Russian medics and nurses are currently working at the field hospital, providing both intensive and general care, the ministry noted. In total, 32 Russian medical professionals are stationed at the Bergamo facility, working in three shifts daily to provide 24-hour care.
This past week, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the 142-bed field hospital would begin to receive patients. All medical staff working at the facility have received training at Bergamo’s Pope John XXIII hospital.
Italy has been one of the most severely affected countries by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. More than 152,000 positive tests have been confirmed in the country, resulting in the deaths of more than 19,400 people.
An additional 909 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India, raising the total number of positive tests confirmed since the start of the outbreak to 8,356, the country’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed on Sunday.
The latest announcement follows in the wake of the largest daily increase in cases, reported on Saturday, when health authorities announced a jump of over 1,000 positive tests in a 24-hour period.
A total of 7,367 people in India are currently undergoing treatment for the disease, and more than 700 people have recovered, the ministry stated.
The COVID-19 death toll in India currently stands at 273, a rise of 34 over the past 24 hours.
Venezuela received 30 tonnes worth of humanitarian aid from China to help in the battle against coronavirus, the country’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said Saturday.
The shipment contained a large amount of personal protective equipment for medical workers as well as 15,000 coronavirus test kits, Rodriguez said.
This is the second such aid shipment Venezuela receives from China, with Caracas receiving a 55-tonne freight late March.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday ordered an extension of the state of emergency for one month and kept the stay-at-home order in place.
Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, will deliver on Sunday his traditional Easter message and Urbi et Orbi blessing to the entire world, with the ceremonies held without the physical presence of the faithful due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The pope will deliver the Urbi et Orbi address during the Easter Sunday Mass, which will start at noontime (11:00 GMT) at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican. The entire celebration will take place inside.
The ceremonies will be streamed live from St Peter's on the Vatican Media YouTube channel, radio and TV.
During a meeting of the country’s Political Bureau of the Central Committee, North Korea’s political leadership has agreed to take stronger measures to combat COVID-19.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired the meeting, which dealt with economic, personnel and epidemiological issues, according to an official report published by the state-run KCNA agency.
“The meeting of the Political Bureau called for consistently taking strict national countermeasures to thoroughly check the inroads of the virus in the light of the steady spread of the worldwide epidemic disease,” an official report, quoted by the agency on Sunday, stated.
North Korean leaders outlined that any measures to combat COVID-19 would not come at the cost of diverting resources away from the country’s economic development or defense.
“The joint resolution detailed the goals of continuously intensifying the nationwide emergency anti-epidemic services and pushing ahead with the economic construction, increasing national defence capability and stabilizing the people's livelihood this year,” the report read, as quoted by the agency.
According to the North Korean leadership, no cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the country to date.
A further 33 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Thailand, raising the overall number of positive tests in the country to 2,551, Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesman for the national coronavirus response center, said on Sunday.
“Today, 33 new cases have been reported in Thailand. Three more people have died,” the spokesman said, adding that the victims were Thai citizens.
The COVID-19 death toll in the country now stands at 38, Visanuyothin said.
The majority of new cases were reported within clusters of the disease that have already been identified, the spokesman said. Seven of the new positive tests were reported among health care workers.
A total of 1,218 people have recovered after contracting the disease.
The spokesman also reminded citizens that the Songkran festival, which marks the New Year in Thailand, has been canceled across the country and public celebrations are forbidden.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Germany rose by 2,821 on Sunday to 120,479. The death toll, meanwhile, surged by 129 to 2,673.
