Coronavirus Pandemic: Latest updates

190,000 deaths worldwide

At least 190,989 people have died worldwide since the epidemic surfaced in China in December, nearly two thirds of whom are in Europe, according to an AFP tally at 1100 GMT Friday based on official sources. More than 2,719,450 cases have now been reported in 193 countries or territories. The United States has the most deaths of any country with 49,963. Italy is the second hardest-hit country, with 25,549 dead. Spain follows with 22,524 then France with 21,856 and Britain with 18,738.

Drug "weeks to months" away

The world is "weeks to months" away from knowing what drugs will work to fight Covid-19, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for the World Health Organization's coronavirus response. The WHO is tracking a number of studies that are trying to determine exactly how many people have been infected around the world, Van Kerkhove said.

3,176 die in US in 24 hours

The novel coronavirus has killed 3,176 people in last 24 hours, according to a tally Thursday from Johns Hopkins University. The deaths were recorded in the 24 hours up to 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Friday). The US, the worst-hit country in the world, now has 866,646 confirmed cases of coronavirus, up 26,971 from the previous day.

$1.0 trillion in debt relief              

UN called Thursday for a global debt deal, including the creation of an international body to oversee "substantive debt relief" to prevent an economic catastrophe in poorer nations amid the pandemic. The agency reiterated a call from last month to grant $1.0 trillion in debt relief to the hardest-hit developing countries, and called for the creation of an international developing country debt authority to oversee the programme.

EU dithers over rescue

The 27 leaders of the European Union ask officials to come up with a plan to recover from the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic by early May. The divided leaders, meeting by video conference, put off until later decisions on demands from debt-laden southern states such as Spain and Italy, both badly hit by the disease, for help from the richer north.

Pompeo's new allegation

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo charged Thursday that China may have known of the new coronavirus as early as November, renewing accusations that Beijing has not been transparent and again drawing ire from China. "You'll recall that the first cases of this were known by the Chinese government maybe as early as November, but certainly by mid-December," Pompeo said in an interview.

Spain: lowest toll in a month

Spain saw 367 people die of novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours for the lowest daily number of deaths in four weeks, government said yesterday. The latest figures are the lowest daily toll since March 22 when 394 deaths were reported. That brought the total fatalities from the pandemic in the country to 22,524, the third-highest number of virus deaths in the world after the United States and Italy.

Source: AFP