close
Monday February 17, 2025

Over 2.3m corona cases registered worldwide

By News Report
April 19, 2020

ISLAMABAD: More than 2.3 million coronavirus cases have been recorded worldwide, about half of them in Europe, according to latest international media reports.

A total of 158,881 deaths have been reported among the 2,308,173 cases.

In Europe, the hardest-hit continent, there are 1,115,555 declared infections and 97,985 deaths. In the United States, the country where the virus is progressing most rapidly, there are 728,293 cases including 38,244 fatalities.

Nearly a quarter of the global deaths have been reported from the United States, where President Donald Trump lent his support to protesters rallying against lockdown orders.

Evidence is mounting that social distancing successfully slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity — 4.5 billion people — were confined to their homes.

Governments around the world are now grappling with when and how to ease lockdowns that have crippled the global economy, even as the COVID-19 death toll climbs further in hard-hit countries.

Demonstrators in three US states staged public rallies this week to demand an end to the restrictions, with the largest protest in Michigan attracting 3,000 people — some of whom were armed.

Trump has largely left decisions on easing lockdowns to state officials even as he laid out guidelines for a staged reopening of the national economy.

But his call to “liberate” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia in a series of tweets Friday were quickly rebuked by the Democratic leaders of all three states.

The United States accounts for nearly a third of over 2.3 million coronavirus infections reported globally.

It has also recorded 38,244 deaths, more than any other nation, followed by Italy with 23,227 fatalities, Spain with 20,043 and France with 19,323 deaths, which have all been ravaged by their own outbreaks.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Spain, the country hit hardest by the pandemic after the United States and Italy, moved past 20,000 on Saturday, the health ministry said.

A total of 20,043 people have now succumbed to the disease, which killed 565 people in Spain in the past 24 hours, slightly down on the 585 reported on Friday.

The number of declared cases has risen to 191,726, the ministry said. However, the increase in infections has slowed in recent days while the number deemed cured has risen to nearly 75,000.

The number of people in Britain who have died in hospital from coronavirus has risen by 888 to 15,464, according to daily health ministry figures on Saturday.

“As of 5pm on 17 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 have sadly died,” the ministry said on its website, up from 14,576 on Friday.

Iran on Saturday announced 73 new deaths from the coronavirus, raising the official toll to 5,031 as the government allowed small businesses to reopen in Tehran as they already have in the provinces.

It was the seventh day that the number of deaths in the previous 24 hours had fallen.

Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East.

An increase of 3,783 cases in the last 24 hours also pushed Turkey’s confirmed tally within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus first emerged. Koca said 121 more people have died, taking the death toll to 1,890.

Virtually no corner of the world has been left untouched, with deaths in Africa passing 1,000.

Nigeria announced the death of President Muhammadu Buhari’s top aide on Saturday, the highest-profile person to succumb to the virus in Africa’s most populous nation.

Meanwhile, many of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians are preparing to mark Easter without attending church services. The Russian Orthodox Church has asked the faithful to celebrate at home, even though many places or worship will remain open. Services in Turkey will be closed to the public and broadcast on the internet.

And Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II will not mark her birthday on Tuesday with a traditional gun salute. An elderly Palestinian woman has also become the first fatal victim of the coronavirus disease in occupied East Jerusalem, health officials have said.

Nawal Abu Hummus, 78, died on Saturday, said Palestinian Authority (PA) spokesperson Ibrahim Milhem in a statement. Abu Hummus, from the Issawiyah neighbourhood, had pre-existing chronic illnesses, he added.

Over a hundred thousand people gathered at the funeral of a renowned Bangladeshi Islamic preacher on Saturday, breaking the lockdown that the government of the South Asian nation imposed to avert the threat of coronavirus pandemic.

The funeral of Maulana Zubayer Ahmed Ansari took place at Sarail Upazila of Brahmanbaria district, some 100 kilometres away from the capital Dhaka. Ansari, a leader of the Islamic political party Khelafat Majlish, died on Friday evening. He was 59.

Officer-in-charge of Sorail police station Shahadat Hossain Titu said: “We couldn’t control the crowd. Over one lakh people gathered at premise of Jamia Rahmania Madrasa established by the late Maulana Ansari.”

As of Saturday, Bangladesh has 2,144 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 84 deaths. Mahbub Kabir Milon, a secrerary with Bangladesh government called the gathering “devastating”.

The United Arab Emirates will fine people up to 20,000 dirhams (approximately Rs895,207) if they share medical information about the coronavirus that contradicts official statements, state news agency WAM reported.

The move appears to be aimed at containing the spread of misinformation and rumours related to the COVID-19 outbreak that has claimed 37 lives in the country, with 6,300 confirmed infections as of Friday. “It is forbidden for any individual to publish, re-publish or circulate medical information or guidance which is false, misleading or which hasn’t been announced officially ... using print, audiovisual or social media, or online websites or any other way of publication or circulation,” WAM reported, citing the government directive.