Coronavirus Pandemic: Global death toll crosses 100,000
European countries yesterday signaled that they were preparing to extend lockdowns several more weeks despite positive signs as the global death toll from the coronavirus epidemic crossed 100,000.
Governments have forced businesses to close and limited the movement of half the world's population, halting economic activity and prompting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to warn that the world faces its worst downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Some 17 million Americans have so far lost their jobs, prompting the US government to launch a $2.3 trillion rescue package, while the European Union late Thursday struck a 500-billion euro ($550 billion) deal to help hard-hit member states.
The United States is now emerging as the global hotspot of the virus. More than 1,700 people died on Thursday from almost 500,000 cases, bringing its total death toll to the second highest in the world after Italy. It also has the largest number of cases anywhere in the world by far.
More than 1.6 million infections have been recorded globally, according to an AFP tally.
Thousands of deaths across Europe yesterday helped to drive the confirmed global toll at 1,00,156 with nearly half of the deaths reported in the past week.
But there was relief in Britain as Prime Minister Boris Johnson, among the world's most high-profile virus sufferers, was moved to a normal hospital ward after three days in intensive care.
"He is in extremely good spirits," a government spokesman said.
And across Europe and the United States, officials sought solace in slightly improving figures.
Spain, the third hardest-hit country, saw its lowest day toll in 17 days, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday the "fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control".
France also reported that fewer people were in intensive care for COVID-19, the first fall since the pandemic broke out.
However, European leaders made it clear that the lockdowns imposed to prevent the spread of the virus would not go away soon.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country has reported the most virus-linked deaths worldwide, is leaning towards an extension to early May, with few concessions to business demands to allow more companies to operate normally.
Spain prolonged a state of emergency until April 25 and Britain also is likely to extend restrictions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined Spain and Italy on Thursday in upholding restrictions on people's movement and face-to-face contacts, saying progress in defeating the pandemic is "fragile" and it's too early to relent.
Anthony Fauci, the US government's top pandemic expert, said the United States was "going in the right direction" after a slight drop in the US daily death rate from Wednesday's record toll of 1,973.
In New York, the epicentre of the virus in the United States, the rate of hospital admissions fell on Thursday and state Governor Andrew Cuomo said the actions taken in the state were "flattening the curve", referring to attempts to stabilise the death rate.
The fallout is shaking every corner of the financial world, with sectors from travel and tourism to hospitality and arts and culture slammed by the pandemic.
The IMF, which has $1 trillion in lending capacity, said it was responding to calls from 90 countries for emergency financing.
"We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression," said IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, urging governments to provide lifelines to businesses and households.
And major oil producers except Mexico agreed to cut output after a dramatic slump in demand caused by the virus, exacerbated by a Saudi-Russia price war, sent prices crashing to a near two-decade low.
Despite hopeful signs in Western nations and China -- where the virus was first detected late last year -- there are fears the worst is still to come in much of the developing world.
War-torn Yemen, which has been experiencing one of the world's most acute humanitarian crises, yesterday reported its first case.
Brazilian authorities confirmed the first deaths in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, where overcrowding and poor sanitation have raised fears of a catastrophe.
There are similar fears in India, where hundreds of millions of poor people are becoming increasingly desperate.
"I keep hearing that the government will do this and that. No one has even come to see if we are alive or dead," Rajni Devi, a mother of three, told AFP in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Comments