Coronavirus latest updates: Global death toll over 95,000 as confirmed cases pass 1.6 million

full-width

Coronavirus latest: at a glance

A summary of the biggest developments in the global coronavirus outbreak

Follow our latest coronavirus blog http://www.innd2.com/ for live news and updates

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

Global death toll over 95,000 as confirmed cases pass 1.6 million

Johns Hopkins University figures show that at least 95,699 people have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic so far. There are 1,601,984 confirmed cases worldwide. Italy’s death toll continues to be the world’s worst, with 18,279 lives lost, while the US has the highest number of confirmed cases, with 461,437.

UN chief warns coronavirus threatens global peace and security

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the UN Security Council on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic was threatening international peace and security, potentially leading to an increase in social unrest and violence that would greatly undermine the world’s ability to fight the disease. The UN’s most powerful body, which has been silent on Covid-19, issued its first brief press statement after the closed meeting, expressing “support for all efforts of the secretary general concerning the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic to conflict-affected countries”.

One in 10 Americans have lost their jobs in three weeks

More than 16 million Americans have lost their jobs in just three weeks in a measure of the economic devastation wreaked by the coronavirus. Numbers released Thursday by the US government showed that 6.6 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, on top of more than 10 million in the two weeks before that. That amounts to about 1 in 10 American workers losing their employment, by far the largest and fastest accumulation of job losses since the world’s largest economy began keeping records in 1948. During the Great Depression it took 44 weeks — roughly 10 months — for unemployment claims to go as high as they now have in less than a month, AP reports.

New York sees record coronavirus deaths again

New York broke its record for the largest single-day coronavirus death toll for the third consecutive day, the governor announced on Thursday, as he warned the pandemic would hit the state’s economy harder than 9/11. New York was hiring labourers for mass burials on an island off the Bronx as it recorded 799 deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the state’s total death toll to 7,067. There are signs that social distancing is flattening the curve, however, as the state recorded its lowest number of new hospital admissions since the crisis started.

China reports fewer new cases

China reported 42 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, 38 of them imported, along with one additional death in the hardest-hit city of Wuhan. That was down from 63 new cases on Wednesday, and 62 a day earlier, the national health commission said. Another 1,169 suspected cases, or those who tested positive but were not showing symptoms, were being monitored under isolation. China now has reported a total of 81,907 cases and 3,336 deaths from the virus.

Daegu city, South Korea, reports zero new cases

The South Korean city of Daegu, where a cluster of infections at a church drove the first major coronavirus outbreak outside of China, on Friday reported zero new cases for the first time since late February, as new infections across the country dropped to record lows. With at least 6,807 confirmed cases, Daegu accounts for more than half of South Korea’s 10,450 infections. South Korea on Friday reported 27 new cases, a new low since daily cases peaked at more than 900 in late February. The death toll also rose by four to 208.

Care homes across globe in spotlight over Covid-19 death rates

Care homes for older people across much of Europe and North America are struggling to cope with the global coronavirus pandemic, prompting allegations of inhumane treatment and calls for high-level inquiries. Appalling stories have emerged from residential homes, which have emerged as a key location for infections. People aged 70 and older are at higher risk of getting very sick or dying from the coronavirus. And people 85 and over are even more vulnerable, global figures show.

US continues its attack on WHO

Days after Donald Trump threatened to withhold funding from the World Health Organisation, the US has doubled down on its criticism of the WHO. The state department has said the body was too late in sounding the alarm over Covid-19 and overly deferential to China. It questioned why the Geneva-based body did not pursue a lead from Taiwan and said: “The WHO once again chose politics over public health.”

Boris Johnson out of intensive care

Boris Johnson is back on a hospital ward after spending three nights in intensive care, and is in “extremely good spirits”, Downing Street has announced. In a statement released on Thursday evening, a No 10 spokesman said: “The prime minister has been moved this evening from intensive care back to the ward, where he will receive close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery.”