No respite for US; 2,500 die in 24 hours

Washington, April 30

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The US recorded 2,502 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the latest tally reported by Johns Hopkins University. After two days of a relative easing in the toll on Sunday and Monday, the numbers have spiked again the past two days.

The reported US death toll on Wednesday crept past 60,000, a figure, which President Donald Trump had suggested in recent weeks, might be the total death count. He had cited the estimate as a sign of relative success after the White House previously warned the US could suffer 1,00,000 to 2,40,000 deaths.

In New York state, the epicentre of the pandemic in the US, nearly 3,00,000 coronavirus cases have been reported, while its daily death toll fell to the lowest since early March, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. In his daily briefing, Cuomo said that with 4,585 additional cases, the state’s overall tally reached 299,691, and the daily death toll fell to 330, the lowest since early March.

With as many as 35 of the 50 American states unveiling formal reopening plans, President Trump expressed confidence that “much better days” were ahead”.

It was on April 16 that Trump laid out a plan for opening up America again. “And we sit here today. I am informed that 35 states have already released formal opening plans many of which are consulting directly with our team here in the administration and we are going to continue to work with all of them,” Vice-President Pence said. — Agencies

European economy suffers record drop

Frankfurt: The European economy shrank by a record 3.8 per cent in the first quarter as business activity was frozen by shutdowns. The drop in the 19-country eurozone was the biggest since statistics began in 1995 and sharper than the plunge in the midst of the global financial crisis in the first quarter of 2009 after the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers. Unemployment rose only slightly. The February jobless figure rose to 7.4 per cent in March from 7.3 per cent in February, statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. PTI

WHO worried over community spread in West Africa

Paris: The World Health Organization is worried by the community spread of the new coronavirus in a significant number of West African countries, the regional head of the organisation said on Thursday. Sub-Saharan Africa has confirmed around 23,800 cases with over 900 deaths. A number of countries have issued targeted lockdowns in some major cities, but have stopped short of nationwide lockdowns as in most European countries and South Africa. On Tuesday, the government of Senegal said in its daily outbreak briefing that one case of community infection in the Casamance region of the country contaminated 25 other people. “We are very concerned about West Africa where we are seeing some community spread, in a significant number of countries compared with others”, Matshidiso Moeti told a news conference, without identifying the countries. Reuters

Spain cases drop

Spain recorded its lowest daily coronavirus death tally in six weeks on Thursday, but data showing the economy shrank by the widest margin on record in the first three months of the year laid bare the heavy cost of measures to control the outbreak. Spain has more than 24,000 fatalities so far. Reuters

Russia over 1,00,000 cases

Moscow: Russia’s nationwide tally of confirmed coronavirus cases surged past the 1,00,000 mark on Thursday after a record daily rise in new cases, days after President Vladimir Putin warned the peak of the outbreak was yet to come. Russia’s case tally now stands at 106,498, with 1,073 deaths, the country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said. Reuters