Worldwide death toll from Covid-19 crosses 268,000

ISLAMABAD: At least 268,467 people have died of the novel coronavirus since the epidemic surfaced in China late last year, according to international media reports.

There have been more than 3.88 million officially recorded cases spanning 195 countries and territories. The United States is the worst-hit country, with 76,011 deaths. Britain follows with 30,615, then Italy with 29,958 deaths, Spain with 26,070 and France with 25,809.

The number of people killed by the new coronavirus in Europe has surpassed 148,000, most of them in Britain, Italy, Spain and France. With a total of 148,222 deaths out of 1,552,510 cases, Europe is the continent hardest hit by the virus.

Russia on Thursday reported another record increase in coronavirus infections with more than 11,000 new cases as Moscow imposes new virus restrictionsand ramps up testing. A daily government tally of virus cases in the country saw 11,231 new infections in 24 hours, bringing Russia´s total to 177,160.

Russia now ranks fourth in the overall number of reported virus cases in Europe and fifth in the world, overtaking France and Germany. The number of infections in Russia has been rising by more than 10,000 a day since Sunday, in contrast to countries in western Europe that are taking steps to ease lockdown measures.

Officials attribute the increase to mass testing and detecting asymptomatic cases not always counted in other countries. Health officials said on Thursday they had carried out more than 4.8 million tests.

Russia´s mortality rate is low compared to European countries hit badly by the pandemic, with health officials registering 88 new deaths for a total of 1,625. Moscow cites a series of measures taken early in the pandemic for its low mortality rate, including closing its borders and ordering the elderly and those at risk to self-isolate. But some say the discrepancy is due to how the death count is calculated.

According to official figures on Wednesday, Russia´s death rate was just 0.9 percent, compared with Germany, which is lauded for its virus response, with a fatality rate of 4.2 percent. Coronavirus cases have been registered in all of Russia´s 85 regions with Moscow the epicentre of the pandemic where officials have registered 92,676 infections.

The capital´s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Thursday that Muscovites will be required to wear masks and gloves on public transport as restrictions ease and some sectors return to work. "We understand that the number of people moving on transport will increase, one way or another, the number of people communicating with each other will increase," he said on the Rossiya-24 television channel.

A non-working quarantine period is in place in Russia until May 11, but Sobyanin has said that stay-at-home restrictions would remain in place beyond this deadline. Moscow residents are allowed out only for brief trips to a shop, to walk dogs or to travel to essential jobs with a permit.

Sweden on Thursday reported more than 3,000 coronavirus deaths, after gaining international attention for imposing softer lockdown measures than many of its hard-hit European neighbours.

The Public Health Agency of Sweden said it had recorded 3,040 deaths and 24,623 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country of some 10.3 million inhabitants. But officials defended their strategy of not imposing strict stay-at-home measures, saying Sweden´s healthcare system still had spare capacity.

"The curves show that we have, to a large extent, been successful in keeping (the outbreak) within the limits of what the healthcare system can manage," state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters.

Sweden has not imposed the kind of extraordinary lockdown measures seen elsewhere in Europe, instead opting for an approach based on the "principle of responsibility".

The Scandinavian country has kept schools open for children under the age of 16, along with cafes, bars, restaurants and businesses, while urging people to respect social distancing guidelines.

The Swedish approach has received criticism both domestically and abroad, particularly as deaths lept passed tolls in neighbouring Nordic countries, which have all imposed more restrictive containment measures.

In India, Mumbai has become the first city to surpass the 10,000 cases mark of COVID-19 with the detection of 769 fresh cases, said an update by the city civic authority late Wednesday.

The total number of positive cases in India''s financial capital stood at 10,527 with 412 deaths so far. Out of the total cases reported so far, the city’s mortality rate is 3.9 percent, which is higher than India’s average rate of 3.43 percent but lower than the world rate of 6.92 percent.

Meanwhile, China accused the United States on Thursday of trying to shift blame over the coronavirus, after President Donald Trump said the pandemic was a worse "attack" than Pearl Harbor or 9/11.

Tension between the world´s two biggest economies has reached fever pitch in recent days as they have exchanged barbed comments on each other´s handling of the virus. "We urge the US side to stop shifting the blame to China and turn to facts," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a press briefing.

On Wednesday Trump drew analogies with the virus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, and infamous military and terrorist attacks on the United States.

"This is really the worst attack we´ve ever had," Trump told reporters. "This is worse than Pearl Harbor. This is worse than the World Trade Centre." The Japanese assault on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii drew the United States into World War II.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on that killed about 3,000 people and triggered two decades of war. Trump said the coronavirus pandemic "should never have happened". "Could have been stopped at the source. Could have been stopped in China," he said.

Hua responded: "They might say the pandemic is comparable to Pearl Harbor or 9/11, but the enemy facing the US is the novel coronavirus". She said Washington should "fight side-by-side" with Beijing instead of as "enemies".

Hua added that "lots of foreign countries, experts and scientists have all made positive comments on China´s effective virus prevention and control." "But the US alone has made some very disharmonious, untruthful and insincere remarks," said Hua.

Meanwhile, the United Nations on Thursday issued a new appeal for $4.7 billion in funding to "protect millions of lives and stem the spread of coronavirus in fragile countries." The money is on top of the $2 billion the UN already called for when it launched its global humanitarian response plan on March 25. It has received about half of that money so far.

"The most devastating and destabilising effects" of the novel coronavirus pandemic "will be felt in the world´s poorest countries," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said in the statement.

"Unless we take action now, we should be prepared for a significant rise in conflict, hunger and poverty. The spectre of multiple famines looms," he warned. The full $6.7 billion is expected to cover costs of the humanitarian response plan until December.

It prioritises some 20 countries, including several in conflict such as Afghanistan and Syria. The new call for donations came as nine more countries were added to the list: Benin, Djibouti, Liberia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zimbabwe. The funds are to be used to buy medical equipment to test and treat the sick, provide hand-washing stations, launch information campaigns and establish humanitarian airlifts to Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to the UN.

It also aims to develop new programmes to better combat food insecurity that is growing as a result of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Extraordinary measures are needed," Lowcock stressed.

"I urge donors to act in both solidarity and in self-interest and make their response proportionate to the scale of the problem we face," he added, warning of a long-term boomerang effect if poor countries are neglected by rich countries.

The number of international tourist arrivals could plunge by 60 to 80 percent in 2020, says the World Tourism Organisation, revising its previous forecast sharply lower. Air France-KLM posts a sharp loss of 1.8 billion euros ($1.94 billion) in the first quarter of 2020 and warns of more woes to come. The airline group says it does not expect to reach pre-crisis levels of passenger demand "before several years".