The United States remains the main centre of the global pandemic. There are more than 670,300 COVID-19 cases and at least 33,101 fatalities in the country, with New York being the state worst affected, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
At the same time, Spain and Italy are the main centres of the outbreak in Europe, with over 184,900 and 168,900 infected respectively, according to the JHU count.
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The authorities of the Chinese city of Wuhan – the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic – have recalculated statistics of the coronavirus disease, increasing the number of confirmed cases by 325 to 50,333 and the death toll by 1,290 to 3,869 people.
The death toll has risen from 229 to 230 within the same period of time, according to the Health Ministry's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).
The virus-related death toll rose by 145 since the morning hours to 1,193, according to the data updated on Thursday, in large part due to a sharp increase in fatalities in long-term care facilities.
The total number of confirmed cases in the Latin American country has increased to 2,669.
"Along with the confirmed 486 fatalities of the coronavirus, we have 101 more lethal cases, whose tests are not ready", the ministry's director of epidemiology, Jose Luis Alomia, said on late Thursday.
More than 1,500 patients are in critical condition, including 287 patients on ventilators, according to the official.
Maduro added that 111 patients had recovered, while nine people had died of the coronavirus.
The death toll has risen to 130, while 249 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
The number of novel coronavirus cases stands at 653,825 and a total of 30,998 people died from complications related to the virus.
The total number of people diagnosed with COVID-19 has reached 12,758, while the death toll has risen to 142. A total of 2,818 people have been cured from the disease.
"We lost 125 patients today, the death toll is now 1,643", Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted.
The country has also reported 4,801 new infection cases, bringing the total to 74,193. More than 7,000 patients have so far recovered from COVID-19.
"Today, we are reporting an additional 4,391 positive test results… for a total of 75,317 New Jerseyans who have now tested positive", Governor Phil Murphy said. "We also have the duty to report the loss of another 362 New Jerseyans due to COVID-19 related complications. Our statewide toll now sits at 3,518".
PARIS (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related deaths in France has increased by 753 to 17,920 over the past 24 hours, with the total case count now standing at 108,847, Jerome Salomon, the head of the state health agency, said on Thursday.
"The total number of victims since March 1 is 17,920", Salomon said at a briefing on Thursday.
He noted that 11,060 of them had died in hospitals, and 6,860 others in social and medical-social facilities.
On Wednesday, the country reported a total of 106,206 cases, including a record 1,438 new fatalities. Salomon specified that it was not the daily death toll, as the data had been compiled over the last three-day weekend.
PARIS (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related deaths in France has increased by 753 to 17,920 over the past 24 hours, with the total case count now standing at 108,847, Jerome Salomon, the head of the state health agency, said on Thursday.
"The total number of victims since March 1 is 17,920", Salomon said at a briefing on Thursday.
He noted that 11,060 of them had died in hospitals, and 6,860 others in social and medical-social facilities.
On Wednesday, the country reported a total of 106,206 cases, including a record 1,438 new fatalities. Salomon specified that it was not the daily death toll, as the data had been compiled over the last three-day weekend.
PARIS (Sputnik) - The number of coronavirus-related deaths in France has increased by 753 to 17,920 over the past 24 hours, with the total case count now standing at 108,847, Jerome Salomon, the head of the state health agency, said on Thursday.
"The total number of victims since March 1 is 17,920", Salomon said at a briefing on Thursday.
He noted that 11,060 of them had died in hospitals, and 6,860 others in social and medical-social facilities.
On Wednesday, the country reported a total of 106,206 cases, including a record 1,438 new fatalities. Salomon specified that it was not the daily death toll, as the data had been compiled over the last three-day weekend.
"The New York ‘PAUSE’ policies, the close-down policies, will be extended in coordination with other states to 15 May", New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
The governor explained that state authorities aim to decrease the rate at chich the virus spreads before returning to normal life.
"Ideally, one person is infecting less than one person", Cuomo said. "That is what we are shooting for".
New York now has a 0.9 infection rate due to the strong mitigation efforts it had put in place. However, with the existent margin of error of 1.2, the spread rate goes back to high levels, leaving a “narrow window” for immediate reopening plans.
Cuomo said over the next four weeks he would continue to work on a future reopening of New York State in coordination with other states and after revisiting the issue based on scientific data.
"The experts will tell us the best course of conduct, based on that data: no political decisions, no emotional decisions. Data and science. We are talking about human lives here", Cuomo said.
ROME (Sputnik) - Italy has recorded 525 coronavirus-related deaths, while the number of active cases increase by almost 1,200 in the past day, the head of the civil protection agency said Tuesday.
"As of today, there are 106,607 persons currently positive for the virus, which means there has been a rise of 1,189 persons compared to yesterday", Angelo Borrelli said at a press conference.
He added that the number of patients in intensive care units had fallen by 143 since yesterday and is now the lowest since 21 March.
"Today we have registered 525 new deaths", Borelli said.
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock warned on Thursday that the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Yemen could be faster and lead to deadlier consequences than in other countries.
"More than five years of war have severely degraded Yemen’s health infrastructure, exhausted people’s immune systems and increased acute vulnerabilities", Lowcock said. "As a result, epidemiologists warn that COVID-19 in Yemen could spread faster, more widely and with deadlier consequences than in many other countries."
Lowcock said that to help the country prevent a health emergency, the United Nations agencies urgently need more than $900 million. The funds will allow the world's body to continue humanitarian operations in the country through July.
"I am urging all donors to pledge generously now and immediately release at least enough money to cover response operations through July", he added.
If additional support is not secured, 31 out of the 41 UN major programs in Yemen will start shutting down in the next few weeks. The closure of aid operations will deprive up to one million displaced people of critical hygiene supplies, nutrition programs, and essential health services provided by the World Health Organisation.
Lowcock also pointed out the fact that in April 2019, UN programs in Yemen received about $2.6 billion in funds. Meanwhile, this year, donors have pledged only $800 million so far.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Yemen has confirmed its first case of COVID-19 infection.
NEW YORK (Sputnik) - The US state of New York registered 606 new deaths related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) over the past 24 hours, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Cuomo displayed a table during the briefing which read that 577 out of the total of 606 deaths on 15 April occurred in hospitals, while the remaining 29 took place in nursing homes.
On 14 April, Cuomo said that 752 individuals died across the state due to COVID-19.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The global economic growth in 2020 is projected to fall by 1.5 percent as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, the OPEC said in a monthly report on Thursday.
"Following global economic growth of 2.9% in 2019, the world economy is forecast to face a severe recession in 2020, declining by 1.5%. Despite tender signs of improvement at the beginning of the year, expectations for global economic growth have been burdened by the strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic", the report read.
Aside from the tough COVID-19 containment measures, the world economy suffers from the supply and demand shock as well as "the severe disruption in the financial markets," the cartel noted.
The US economic growth "is forecast to decline by 4.1% in 2020, following growth of 2.3% in 2019. An even larger decline is seen in the Euro-zone, where economic activity is forecast to fall by 6.0% in 2020, compared with growth of 1.2% in 2019," the OPEC said in a report.
As China has managed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it may experience a GDP growth of 1.5 percent, which nevertheless is a huge decline from a growth of 6.1 percent in 2019, according to the cartel.
"Russia’s economy is forecast to decline by 0.5% in 2020, not only due to COVID-19, but also because of the considerable decline in oil prices. Depending on near-term developments in the oil market, the Russian economy is forecast to recover in 2H20, after an expected considerable contraction in the first two quarters of the year", the OPEC added.
The COVID-19 will continue to pressure the GDP growth worldwide well into the second quarter of 2020, according to the report.
"Therefore, most regions are forecast to see a slowdown through 2Q20, recovering only towards the second half of 3Q20. Importantly, this assumes that the pandemic is widely contained by 3Q20 and that lock-down measures will be reduced to a large extent on a global base, including especially the major economies", the cartel concluded.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic triggered an economic crisis this year as it has drastically reduced air traffic worldwide, shut down production and forced many to work from home, driving demand for jet fuel and gasoline down.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has issued guidelines for reopening the state as soon as 1 May, envisaging the safe reopening of businesses, according to a statement from his office.
JUST IN: The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits hit 5.25 million last week — capping four weeks of coronavirus-related shutdowns that erased more than 10 years of job creation https://t.co/4gnTMCbl8w pic.twitter.com/cCsYxEbyMj
— Bloomberg (@business) April 16, 2020
"It is true that no one was really ready for this. It is also true that too many were not there on time when Italy needed a helping hand at the very beginning", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated in a speech to the European Parliament. "And yes, for that, it is right that Europe as a whole offers a heartfelt apology".
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has registered 3,448 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 27,938, the country's coronavirus response centre said on Thursday.
"Over the past 24 hours, Russia has confirmed 3,448 COVID-19 cases in 78 regions... Russia has registered 27,938 cases of coronavirus infection in 84 regions, with a 14.1 percent increase [over the past 24 hours]", the centre told reporters.
Of the new cases, 1,370 were registered in Moscow, 467 in the Moscow Region, and 154 in St. Petersburg, the centre specified.
The country's COVID-19 death toll has increased by 34 to 232 over the past 24 hours.
A total of 318 people have recovered from the coronavirus and have been discharged from hospitals across Russia over the past 24 hours, the national response centre said, adding that the total number of recoveries has reached 2,304.
BEIJING (Sputnik) – Over the past 24 hours China has registered 46 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, 76 patients have recovered, no deaths were registered, the state health committee said in a statement.
Out of the 46 new cases, 34 were imported, the remaining 12 were local.
Overall, 1,534 imported cases of coronavirus infection have now been identified in China, 898 people are still sick, 46 are in serious condition, 636 people have recovered, and not a single person who entered China infected from abroad has died.
"The state health committee received from 31 provinces (areas, cities of central subordination) information on 82,341 confirmed cases of infection with the new type of coronavirus, including 1,107 people currently sick (95 people are in serious condition), 77,892 people were discharged from hospitals, and 3,342 died", the centre said.
