Global virus death toll tops 400,000

The global death toll from the coronavirus crossed 400,000 yesterday with fatalities accelerating in Latin America, as India overtook Spain to become the fifth worst-hit country by the outbreak.

Brazil removed from public view months of data on its Covid-19 epidemic on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro defended delays and changes to official record-keeping of the world's second-largest outbreak.

Brazil's health ministry removed the data from a website that had documented the epidemic over time and by state and municipality.

The ministry also stopped giving a total count of confirmed cases, which have shot past 672,000 – more than anywhere outside the United States – or a total death toll, which passed Italy this week, nearing 36,000 by Saturday.

OPEC agreed to extend an April deal to cut production through July, aiming to foster a recovery in oil prices after they were pummelled by slumps in demand caused by virus restrictions.

Governments are also increasingly focused on repairing the economic damage, and even hard-hit European countries are now opening their borders and allowing people to return to work.

But gloomy data from Asia's two largest economies highlighted the long road to recovery.

China reported a plunge in foreign trade on the back of subdued consumer demand and weakness in key overseas markets.

Analysts say a deeper downturn in exports is looming for the world's manufacturing powerhouse, where the virus first emerged late last year.

Factories in India are also struggling to restart because of labour shortages, as the country slowly emerges from a strict nationwide lockdown that sent millions of migrant labourers back to their far-flung home villages.

Malaysia yesterday said it would reopen nearly all economic activity and allow interstate travel starting June 10, lifting coronavirus restrictions imposed nearly three months ago as it moves to revive an economy battered by the pandemic, reports Reuters.

US 'LARGELY THROUGH'

The worst health crisis in more than a century has infected more than 6.9 million globally and forced tens of millions out of work just in the United States, the world's hardest-hit nation.

But President Donald Trump said his country was bouncing back.

"We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. And that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic, largely through, I think we're doing really well," he told reporters.

As the country reels from a second weekend of massive protests against racism and police brutality, Trump -- facing re-election in November -- reiterated his calls to further ease stay-at-home measures.

It followed surprisingly upbeat employment numbers that showed the country gained 2.5 million jobs in May.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio early yesterday lifted a curfew he had imposed on the city for nearly a week as anti-racism protests raged there and nationwide.

This week New York will enter phase one of the state's plan to reboot economic activities shuttered due to Covid-19, which caused more than 21,000 confirmed and probable deaths in America's most populous city.

EU TO REOPEN BORDERS

In Europe, badly-hit countries slowly continued on a path toward a post-pandemic normal, also seeking to revive key tourist sectors in time for the summer.

The European Union said it could re-open borders to travellers from outside the region in early July, after some countries within the bloc re-opened to European visitors.

In France, the Palace of Versailles re-opened without the US and Chinese tourists that usually make up a third of its visitors, reports AFP.

The country also marked the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings with a fraction of the big crowds seen in previous years, owing to strict social distancing restrictions.

Elsewhere, the golf's Asian Tour became the latest international body to announce plans for a restart, after the pandemic threw the world sports calendar into disarray.

Play is expected to resume in September, although organisers said lingering flight restrictions may force competitors to travel without support staff.

Signs that life was beginning a return to normal in Europe and Asia were tempered by the bleak numbers streaming in from Latin America.

Brazil's death toll passed 35,000 as Bolsonaro echoed criticism of the WHO by Trump, who has said the US will defund the organisation because it is too close to China.

Iran's health ministry said yesterday a surge in new reported infections was due to increased testing rather than a worsening outbreak.

CHINA EXONERATES SELF

A beleaguered China yesterday exonerated itself from the global allegations of delay in reporting the coronavirus outbreak, saying the virus was first noticed in Wuhan on December 27 as a viral pneumonia and human-to-human transmission was discovered on January 19, after which it took swift actions to curb it.

A whitepaper released by the Chinese government gave a lengthy explanation to refute the allegations of cover up and delay by Beijing on reporting the Covid-19 outbreak last year in Wuhan.

Trump and leaders of several countries have accused China of not being transparent in reporting the deadly disease, leading to huge human casualties and economic crisis across the world.

Pope Francis yesterday warned Italians to not let their guard down against coronavirus now that infection rates have fallen and urged them to obey government rules on social distancing and wearing masks.

The Argentine pope expressed his sympathy for those in some Latin American countries like Brazil and Peru, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus.

"Unfortunately in other countries -- I am thinking of some of them -- the virus continues to claim many victims," he said.