US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 75,000 deaths on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, after the White House shelved a step-by-step guide prepared by health officials to help states safely reopen.
Deaths in the United States, the epicenter of the global pandemic, have averaged 2,000 a day since mid-April despite efforts to slow the outbreak.
Healthcare workers accompany a patient as he leaves The Johns Hopkins Hospital during the coronavirus disease outbreak as state authorities announced a slight easing of the stay-at-home orders granting permission for some outdoor activities, in Baltimore, Maryland, on 6th May. PICTURE: Reuters/Carlos Barria
The death toll is higher than any fatalities from the seasonal flu going back to 1967 and represents more US deaths than during the first 10 years of the AIDS epidemic, from 1981 to 1991.
US cases are over 1.25 million as new infections continue to rise in many states, including Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a Reuters tally and an analysis of historical data from the COVID Tracking Project. New York and New Jersey, the two states with the highest number of cases, have been experiencing declines in new positive cases in recent weeks.
Some health experts are predicting a resurgence in deaths later this summer as US states lift stay-at-home orders and Americans begin eating out at restaurants and going to gyms again.
A University of Washington research model often cited by White House officials earlier this week nearly doubled its projected U.S. death toll to over 134,000 by 4th August.
An internal Trump administration forecast predicted a surge in fatalities to 3,000 a day by the end of May.
States are eager to reopen due to surging unemployment rates. About 33.5 million people have filed claims for unemployment benefits since 21st March, roughly 22.1 per cent of the working-age population.
A 17 page document prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was shelved to avoid giving “overly prescriptive” guidance, said a member of President Donald Trump’s White House taskforce.
CORONAVIRUS LATEST
More than 3.80 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 264,682 have died, according to the latest Reuters tally on Thursday.
EUROPE
• Russia overtook France and Germany, with the fifth highest number of cases in the world. Moscow’s mayor said the real number of cases in the capital was more than triple the official, TASS news agency reported.
• Restrictions in Moscow have been extended until 31st May, said Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
• France’s death toll reached almost 26,000 on Thursday, but rose less sharply than in previous days as the government confirmed it would start lifting an almost two-month-old national lockdown from Monday.
• Deaths in Italy climbed by 274 on Thursday, against 369 the day before, while the daily tally of new infections declined marginally to 1,401 from 1,444 on Wednesday.
• Black people and men of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin are nearly twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than whites, even when adjusting data for deprivation, a British report said.
• Poland plans to test 1,000 miners a day at drive-through sites as data show rapid growth in new cases in the coal region.
AMERICAS
• US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have tested negative for the coronavirus after a member of the US military who works at the White House as a valet came down with the virus.
• US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday laid out the broad outlines of the next massive coronavirus-response bill Democrats will seek, with possible votes as soon as next week.
• California will face a budget deficit of $US54.3 billion due to a drop in revenue combined with increased expenses linked to the pandemic, according to a projection released Thursday by financial advisers to Governor Gavin Newsom.
• The first immigrant in US detention has died of the coronavirus, local health authorities said as infections steadily climbed among the country’s around 30,000 immigrant detainees.
• Indigenous groups from nine countries in the Amazon basin called for donations to help protect 3 million rainforest inhabitants, vulnerable because they lack adequate access to healthcare.
• Brazil, one of the world’s emerging hot spots, registered a record number of cases and deaths on Wednesday. President Bolsonaro’s spokesman has tested positive and is quarantined in his home.
• A coronavirus outbreak that has infected more than 30% of inmates at the prison in Villavicencio, in central Colombia, has sparked fear among local officials, neighbours and prisoners’ families.
• At least 47 residents and three workers have been infected at a retirement home in Mexico, in one of the biggest outbreaks yet reported in the country.
• El Salvador said it would from Thursday temporarily suspend public transport.
ASIA-PACIFIC
• China said it supports the WHO in trying to pinpoint the origins of the pandemic and accused the US Secretary of State of lying in his attacks on Beijing.
• Japan has approved Gilead’s remdesivir as a treatment for COVID-19, the health ministry said, making it the country’s first officially authorised drug for the disease.
• Cases in India rose past 50,000 on Thursday, with the pace of new infections showing no signs of abating despite a strict weeks-long lockdown.
• India will roll out a version of its coronavirus contact-tracing application that can run on Reliance Jio’s cheap phones, as it looks to widen use.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
• The coronavirus could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in Africa in the first year and infect between 29 million and 44 million in the first year if it is not contained, the WHO said.
• Turkey’s coronavirus death toll rises by 57 to 3,641, Health Ministry data showed on Thursday.
• Iran is scrambling to buy millions of tonnes of grains to shore up reserves, officials and traders said, despite the President’s assertions that the coronavirus would not endanger food supplies.
• Pakistan’s lockdown will be lifted on Saturday, its prime minister said, despite the number of cases still accelerating.
• The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention rejected the Tanzanian president’s assertion that tests it supplied are faulty.
• Saudi Arabia has formed a police unit to monitor violations of its coronavirus lockdown rules and has banned gatherings of more than five people, the state news agency SPA said on Thursday.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
• World shares largely shook off data on Thursday showing millions more Americans sought unemployment benefits, with sentiment sustained by stronger than expected Chinese exports.
• US natural gas futures fell almost three per cent on Thursday on a much bigger-than-usual weekly storage build that analysts said was caused by coronavirus-related demand destruction.
• The United Nations on Thursday more than tripled its appeal to help vulnerable countries combat the spread and destabilizing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, asking for $US6.7 billion to help 63 states mainly in Africa and Latin America.
• The IMF has approved 50 requests for emergency aid for a total of about $US18 billion, and is continuing to work quickly through remaining requests, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said.
• Millions more Americans likely sought unemployment benefits last week, suggesting a broadening of layoffs from consumer facing industries to other segments of the economy and could remain elevated even as many parts of the country start to reopen.
• The Bank of England said Britain could be headed for its biggest economic slump in over 300 years and kept the door open for more stimulus next month.
– Compiled by SARAH MORLAND and VINAY DWIVEDI
