Global death toll from COVID-19 crosses 125,000

ISLAMABAD: Nearly two million people around the world have now been confirmed to have the new coronavirus, more than 125,000 have died, while nearly 467,000 have recovered, according to latest reports in the international media. More than 6,300 people died on Tuesday.

The number of people who have died in hospital in Britain from the coronavirus has risen to 12,107, according to health ministry figures published on Tuesday.

This is an increase of 778 on the previous day and official figures also showed that the number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 has reached 93,873.

The US continues to show alarming situation as the total death toll has mounted to over 25,000 with over 600,000 infections.

New York state recorded 778 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, up from 671 the day before, but new hospital admissions and infections were down, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

The rise in the single-day toll brought the total number of deaths in the state — America’s coronavirus epicentre — to 10,834, Cuomo told reporters.

The governor added that new hospital admissions were around 1,600 on Monday, down from a high of more than 3,400 recorded in early April.

Italy, the second most affected country with over 21,000 deaths, allowed bookshops and children’s clothing retailers to reopen on Tuesday but some business owners chose to stay shut, fearing it was too soon to lift the coronavirus lockdown.

Launderettes and stationery shops were also permitted to reopen on Tuesday as the government sought to gradually lift stringent lockdown measures imposed on March 9.

France officially registered more than 15,000 deaths from coronavirus infections, becoming the fourth country to go beyond that threshold after Italy, Spain and the United States, while the rate of increase of fatalities is slightly up again after steadying the days before.

But the number of people in intensive care units fell to 6,730 from 6,821 over 24 hours, with this total declining for a sixth consecutive day, suggesting the national lockdown, extended to May 11 on Monday, is having positive effects in containing the disease.

Sweden said the number of coronavirus deaths in the country has exceeded 1,000.

China reported 89 new coronavirus cases on April 13, of which 86 were imported, the health authority said. The high number of imported cases in the country awakens fear of a second wave of coronavirus cases because of Chinese citizens coming back to their homeland from abroad.

Confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 868 to 27,419, health authorities said, with 122 new deaths.

Total deaths in the country are at 2,945, the Netherlands Institute for Public Health said in its daily update.

Turkey’s single-day death toll from coronavirus jumped over 100 for the first time on Tuesday, the health minister said, as he assured the speed of the disease’s spread was under control.

The country recorded 107 deaths and 4,062 new cases for the past 24 hours, Fahrettin Koca told a televised press conference. The daily death toll has thus far remained below 100.

The latest figures pushed the total number of fatalities in Turkey to 1,403 and the number of cases has exceeded 65,000.

Meanwhile, the United States said it is seeking to “fundamentally change” the World Health Organisation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “The World Health Organisation in its history has done some good work. Unfortunately here, it didn’t hit the top of its game.”

“We need to make sure that we push through efforts to fundamentally change that or make a different decision that says we’re going to do our part to make sure that these important world health obligations — things that frankly keep Americans safe, too — actually function,” he said.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday about a “dangerous epidemic of misinformation” surrounding the global coronavirus outbreak.

“This is a time for science and solidarity,” Guterres said in a statement and video message.

“As the world fights the deadly COVID-19 pandemic — the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War — we are also seeing another epidemic, a dangerous epidemic of misinformation,” he said.

Guterres did not cite any specific countries or media outlets but he said that “harmful health advice and snake-oil solutions are proliferating.

“Falsehoods are filling the airwaves,” he said. “Wild conspiracy theories are infecting the Internet. Hatred is going viral, stigmatising and vilifying people and groups,” Guterres said.