Coronavirus Pandemic: Latest updates

Cases nears 3,900,000

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 269,514 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Friday. More than 3,856,400 cases were registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,256,900 are now considered recovered. Since Thursday at 1100 GMT, there have been 5,722 new deaths and 90,220 new infections recorded worldwide.

China backs WHO-led review

China said it supports a World Health Organization-led review into the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, but "after the pandemic is over". Meanwhile, WHO yesterday said a wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan played a role in the outbreak last year, but called for more research. The comment came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there is "a significant amount of evidence" the virus came from the Wuhan virus laboratory, although he has also said there wasn't certainty.

Malaria drug fails another test

The malaria treatment repeatedly championed by US President Donald Trump as a "game changer" in the fight against the novel coronavirus has again failed to show a benefit in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to a study released on Thursday. While the study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine had certain limitations, doctors reported that the use of hydroxycholoquine neither lessened the need for patients requiring breathing assistance nor the risk of death.

Indians evacuated

India's navy began evacuating from the Maldives around 750 of the hundreds of thousands of Indian nationals stranded worldwide because of coronavirus travel restrictions. The operation by two warships in Male forms part of an initial operation to repatriate almost 15,000 Indians from 12 countries.

Home delivery of liquor!

Indian states have been advised to consider "indirect sale, home delivery" of liquor to ensure minimal crowds and enforcement of social distancing protocols at alcohol shops across the country, the Supreme Court said yesterday.  Alcohol stores, closed nationwide on March 25, were allowed to re-open this week, generating queues of hundreds outside outlets in some cities and leading to baton charges by police to enforce social distancing protocols.

Virus found in men's semen

The new coronavirus can persist in men's semen even after they have begun to recover, a finding that raises the possibility the virus could be sexually transmitted, Chinese researchers said Thursday. About 16% of patients had evidence of the coronavirus in their semen, the team from Shangqiu Municipal Hospital reported in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Source: AFP, Reuters