Global COVID-19 cases surpass 2.1 mln

Confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 2.1 million on Thursday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 2,101,164 with 140,773 deaths as of 2:30 p.m. local time (1830 GMT), the CSSE said.

• On the rise: U.S. coronavirus death toll exceeds 30,000
• Increasing number of fatality in UK: COVID-19 death toll reaches 12,868

According to the running tally, the United States reported 641,166 cases, the most in the world, as well as the highest death toll of 31,590. Spain registered 182,816 cases and 19,130 deaths, while Italy reported 168,941 cases and 22,170 deaths.

Other countries that reported over 100,000 cases included Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

The British government announced on Thursday that the current restrictive measures that aim to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus will remain in place for “at least three weeks”.

Asserting that relaxing lockdown measures would lead to a resurgence of the virus, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, told reporters that the government has decided relaxing the measures would make the economic impact worse, not better.

“We must keep up this national effort for a while longer… now is not the moment to give coronavirus a second chance,” he said.

Chairing Thursday’s Downing Street press briefing, Raab said the government could subsequently decide to relax the measures in some respects, while strengthening them in others.

The lockdown measures, introduced on March 23 by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were working, but evidence showed that the infection of the virus was still spreading in hospitals and care homes, said Raab.

Source: Xinhua