WHO

Lifting lockdown restrictions is not end of epidemic, says WHO chief

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World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Sunday that lifting lockdown restrictions for COVID-19 is not the end of the epidemic, it’s just the beginning of the next phase.

Speaking at the Group of 20 (G20) Health Ministers virtual meeting from Geneva, the WHO chief said it’s vital in this next phase that countries educate, engage and empower their people to prevent and respond rapidly to any resurgence.

“We are encouraged that several G20 countries are now starting to plan how to ease social restrictions. It is critical that these measures are a phased process,” he said.

Tedros told the health ministers that the WHO is deeply concerned that the virus now appears to be gathering pace in countries that lack the capacity of many G20 countries to respond to it.

“Urgent support is needed, not only to support countries to respond to COVID-19, but to ensure other essential health services continue,” he said.

Tedros also took the opportunity to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its support to the global fight against the virus. Saudi Arabia announced Thursday a 500-million-U.S. dollar donation to relevant international organizations to support global efforts in combating the COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of a simple truth: we are one humanity. We share the same planet. We share the same hopes and dreams. We share the same destiny,” the WHO chief said.

UN chief calls for united efforts to defeat COVID-19

coronavirus research team

The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged on Saturday night that all human beings should unite as one to combat the common enemy of coronavirus and rebuild a fairer world.

“Together, we will defeat this virus and rebuild a fairer world — as united global citizens and united nations,” the UN chief said in his video message for “One World: Together At Home” concert organized by international advocacy organization Global Citizen.

NEW DELHI

India’s federal health ministry said on Sunday morning that the death toll due to COVID-19 in India rose to 507 and the total number of confirmed cases in the country reached 15,712.

This is a jump of 19 deaths and an increase of 920 cases since Saturday evening, when the number of COVID-19 cases was 14,792 and the death toll 488.

MEXICO CITY

Over 100 people have died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Mexico, bringing the country’s death toll to 650, a health official said on Saturday.

With 622 new confirmed cases, the number of the total infected in the country rose to nearly 7,500 on Saturday, Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell said.

BEIJING

Chinese health authority said Sunday that it received reports of 16 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the mainland Saturday, of which nine were imported.

The other seven new cases were domestically transmitted, the National Health Commission said in a daily report, noting that six cases were reported in Heilongjiang Province and one in Guangdong Province.

CAPE TOWN

South Africa on Saturday reported 251 new cases of COVID-19, the highest surge within 24 hours since the country recorded its first case last month.

The total number of infections has reached 3,034, said South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

Two more patients have died of the disease, bringing the death toll to 52, Mkhize added.

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.

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.

WHO must be supported, says UN chief

who

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) must be supported, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump’ announcement of halting his country’s funding to the organization.

“It is my belief that the World Health Organization must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19,” the secretary-general said in a statement issued by his spokesman.

It is “not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus,” the secretary-general said.

“Once we have finally turned the page on this epidemic, there must be a time to look back fully to understand how such a disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly across the globe, and how all those involved reacted to the crisis,” he said.

“The lessons learned will be essential to effectively address similar challenges, as they may arise in the future.”

The UN chief noted that “now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.”

Guterres also recalled his statement made on April 8 that said

“the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most dangerous challenges this world has faced in our lifetime.

It is above all a human crisis with severe health and socio-economic consequences” and the WHO is supporting member states and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, “with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services” as they fight the virus.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration is halting the nation’s funding to WHO, a move experts have warned against.

Trump says halting U.S. funding to WHO

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U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration is halting the nation’s funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), a move experts have warned against, as COVID-19 continues to take a toll globally.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump also said a review is being conducted to assess the WHO’s role in addressing the spread of the coronavirus.

The announcement came as Trump is aggressively defending his own handling of the outbreak in the United States after the administration has been scrutinized for downplaying the threat from the coronavirus early on and faulted for delays in testing.

The tone also differed from one of his tweets on Feb. 24, several days before the United States reported the first death from COVID-19.

“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” Trump wrote at that time.

“We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart.”

Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, called cutting funding to the WHO during a global health crisis “disgraceful,” warning that it would cause death and even blow back on the United States.

“How shortsighted when global coop needed more now than ever,” Gostin said in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

In remarks delivered from Geneva last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “We must quarantine politicizing this virus at national and global levels.”

“We have to work together, and we have no time to waste,” he added.

According to a tally from Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, the United States has reported more than 600,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25,575 deaths, both the highest on record.

Globally, the number of cases is approaching 2 million, as the death toll has surpassed 125,000, the tally showed.

Germany reports over 120,000 COVID-19 cases, Russia reports over 15,000

The world is now in a battle against COVID-19, a disease caused by a previously unknown coronavirus that has spread to over 200 countries and regions.

The following are the updates on the contagious disease.

BERLIN

Germany on Sunday morning reported a total of 120,479 confirmed COVID-19 cases, up by 2,821 over the past 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the country’s disease control agency.

The total deaths rose by 129 to 2,673, and a total of 60,200 people had recovered, up by 2,700 from the previous day, according to the agency.

MOSCOW

Russia tallied another daily record of 2,186 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 15,770 across the country as of Sunday, official data showed.

The death toll climbed to 130 from 106 a day ago, while 1,291 people have recovered, including 246 in the last 24 hours, Russia’s coronavirus response center said in a statement.

OTTAWA

The Canadian Parliament passed on Saturday what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the country’s most significant economic program since the World War II.

In a rare Saturday sitting — during the Easter long weekend with only a handful of parliamentarians present to avoid the large gatherings now prohibited across Canada — members of both the House of Commons and Senate, from all political parties, agreed to support the government’s 52-billion-U.S.-dollar-wage-subsidy program that will cover 75 percent of earnings up to about 42,000 U.S. dollars, retroactive to March 15 and up to June 6.

WASHINGTON

There is “an even greater need for closer and more effective global cooperation” as COVID-19 has disrupted the global supply chain, Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai has said.

“I think this is something our economists really have to look at. But I believe, you see, so far the virus has moved much faster than any shift in the supply chain. You have to recognize this,” Cui said in an interview on April 3 with Ian Bremmer at weekly digital and broadcast show Gzero World, which was aired nationally on Saturday by American Public Television.

Death toll from COVID-19 exceeds 90,000 worldwide

The death toll from COVID-19 exceeded 90,000 worldwide on Thursday afternoon local time, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 90,057 as of 12:25 p.m. (1625 GMT), an interactive map maintained by the university’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) showed.

Italy saw the most deaths, standing at 17,669 among 139,422 confirmed cases, followed by Spain, with 15,238 deaths among 152,446 cases, the tally showed.

The United States reported 432,579 confirmed cases, the most in the world, and its death toll stood at 14,831, according to the CSSE.

The following were the latest updates on the COVID-19 global confirmed cases in hardest-hit countries by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University on April 9.

Country Confirmed Cases

  • World 1,502,618
  • U.S. 432,554
  • Spain 152,446
  • Italy 139,422
  • Germany 113,296
  • France 83,080
  • Iran 66,220
  • Britain 61,487
  • Turkey 38,226
  • Belgium 24,983
  • China 83,263
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Read alsoItaly looking to slowly reopen its economy

Coronavirus – Chiefs of WHO, UN hit back at Trump’s threat

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“Please quarantine politicizing COVID. If we want to win, we shouldn’t waste time pointing fingers…Unity is the only option to defeat this virus,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.

“I will suggest two things to the world,” he told a virtual press conference from Geneva when answering a question about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold funds for the UN agency. “The first is national unity, and the second is global solidarity.”

Trump on Tuesday criticized the WHO’s response to COVID-19 and threatened to freeze U.S. funding for it.

Tedros stressed that at the national level, leaders should work across party lines.

“My message to political parties: do not politicize this virus. If you care for your people, work across party lines and ideologies … Without unity, we assure you, even any country that may have a better system will be in trouble, and more crises,” Tedros noted.

“No need to use COVID to score political points. You have many other ways to prove yourselves. This is not the one to use for politics, it’s like playing with fire,” Tedros added.

“Now, the United States and China, all the rest of G20 and the rest of the world should come together to fight the virus,” he said, adding that the virus succeeds when there are cracks at the national level and global level.

Earlier in the day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for supporting the WHO during the COVID-19 crisis in the face of Trump’s threat.

The WHO, with thousands of its staff, is on the frontlines, supporting member states and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, Guterres said in a statement. “It is my belief that the WHO must be supported, as it is absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19.”

Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences, rather than for evaluating the performance of all involved, he said.

Italy’s coronavirus cases near 120,000 with falling trend in new infections

coronavirus mask

To date, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed 14,681 lives in locked-down Italy. The number of confirmed infections, fatalities and recoveries totaled 119,827 on Friday, the country’s Civil Protection Department managing the national emergency response said on Friday.

Meanwhile, a moderate daily decrease in the number of new infections was confirmed by the country’s experts.

On Friday, the country reported 766 coronavirus-related fatalities, six more than a day earlier.

The number of active infections increased to 85,388, with 2,339 new cases registered, against an increase of 2,477 on Thursday.

“Among those who tested positive, 4,068 are in intensive care, another 28,741 are hospitalized, and the remaining 52,579 — or 62 percent — are isolated at home because they either had no or only light symptoms,” Civil Protection Department chief Angelo Borrelli told a press conference.

The number of recoveries has increased by 1,480 during the past 24 hours and to 19,758 in total. The previous daily increase was 1,431 new recoveries.

Borrelli also said that 619,849 coronavirus tests have been carried out across the country to date, over 80,000 of these in the last two days alone.

The official, who serves as extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, explained that 114 patients have been transferred from the Lombardy region to other hospitals — nine of them on Friday — to alleviate the healthcare system of the region most affected by the pandemic.

Seventy-four of them are COVID-19 patients, and 38 of them, all tested positive, have been transferred to Germany, he specified.

“We have not reached the peak yet,” Massimo Antonelli, director of intensive care at Policlinico Gemelli in Rome and member of the technical-scientific committee, told the press conference.

He stressed that the “falling trend we are witnessing is the result of what has happened in the last three weeks.”

Meanwhile, fatalities among Italian doctors linked to the coronavirus have increased to 73, the country’s Federation of Medical Associations (FNOMCeO) said.

Earlier on Friday, Borrelli confirmed that the national lockdown remains in force until April 13, stressing that it is up to the government to order its eventual extension “based on the recommendations of the technical-scientific committee.”

DAILY DECREASE IN NEW INFECTIONS

In a separate press conference on Friday, experts of Italy’s National Health Institute (ISS) and Higher Health Council (CSS) provided fresh insights into the medical and epidemiological aspects of the crisis.

They confirmed a moderate daily decrease in the number of new infections.

“This nationwide trend is confirmed. We have some areas that show a high circulation of the virus, others show intermediate circulation, and elsewhere the circulation is quite limited,” ISS President Silvio Brusaferro said.

“Yet, the key message to highlight is that there is no area in our country where the coronavirus does not circulate,” he pointed out.

The latest Civil Protection data showed that the most affected regions remained northern Lombardy (26,189 positive cases), Emilia Romagna (12,178), Piedmont (9,130) and Veneto (8,861). In central Italy, Tuscany (4,909), Marche (3,631) and Lazio (3,009) are the worst-hit regions.

The ISS’s epidemiological bulletin has also confirmed that men appeared to be more affected than women in Italy. Among all coronavirus-related deaths tested by the ISS to date, 31.4 percent were women.

The ISS is tasked with confirming the positive test of each COVID-19 case registered by the health system at the regional level.

WHO: COVID-19 cases top 1 million globally!

coronavirus nurses

More than one million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO), including more than 50,000 deaths, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

Noting the profound social and economic consequences of the pandemic, Tedros stressed the COVID-19 outbreak is much more than a health crisis.

“We are in a shared struggle to protect both lives and livelihoods, ” said Tedros.

Read alsoGlobal death toll from COVID-19 soars past 50,000

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States topped 250,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 257,773 with 6,586 deaths, according to the CSSE.

The state of New York recorded 102,863 cases and 2,935 fatalities. Other states with over 10,000 cases include New Jersey, California, and Michigan.

Globally, nations and regions have altogether recorded more than 1,056,000 cases and over 55,000 deaths, while over 220,000 have recovered from the disease.

Global death toll from COVID-19 soars past 50,000

The global death toll from COVID-19 has soared past 50,000, according to a new tally from Johns Hopkins University on Thursday.

A total of 50,230 people have died of the virus worldwide as the number of confirmed cases is approaching 1 million, while more than 200,000 people have recovered from it, showed the tally updated by the university’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

The United States has reported the most cases, which have surpassed 226,000, while Italy has had nearly 14,000 deaths, higher than any others.

Spain, another epicenter of global outbreaks, has recorded more than 110,000 cases and 10,003 deaths.

Read alsoCoronavirus – When and how will the epidemic end?

WHO official says coronavirus epidemic “far from over” in Asia-Pacific region

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A World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Tuesday the coronavirus epidemic is “far from over” in the Asia-Pacific region, as infections in Japan on Tuesday surpassed 2,000.

“This is going to be a long-term battle and we cannot let down our guard,” WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Takeshi Kasai told a virtual media briefing, urging cooperation in the region to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Japan’s health ministry and local governments said 2,183 people had been infected with the COVID-19 virus in Japan as of 8:30 p.m. local time, with 78 new cases and seven deaths recorded in Tokyo.

This has added pressure on the government to take further measures to curb the domestic spread of the virus, as Japan’s top government spokesperson denied rumors of a lockdown on Monday.

South Korea decided to begin this year’s new school year with online classes from April 9 in a gradual manner amid lingering concerns about the outbreak. The country reported 125 more cases of the COVID-19, raising the total number of infections to 9,786.

The country will force all entrants from overseas to be put under self-quarantine for two weeks beginning Wednesday midnight local time.

Thailand’s Phuket International Airport will be shut from April 10 to 30 after Phuket Province sealed its entry points by land and sea amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday reported 127 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 1,651. One person has died, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 10.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a public health emergency status and a 24.75 billion-U.S. dollar spending to allow the government to edge up development budget deficit and increase the spending for efforts to curb the COVID-19 spread.

The country, which has recorded the highest death toll in Southeast Asia, has decided to ban all arrivals and transits of foreign citizens. The novel coronavirus has killed 136 people and infected 1,528 until Tuesday.

The Australian government has canceled deployment of U.S. Marines to the Northern Territory (NT) amid the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 100,000 businesses have registered for Australia‘s wage subsidy scheme announced on Monday afternoon.

The 130 billion Australian dollar (80.2 billion U.S. dollar) economic lifeline entitles employees who have had their work status affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to fortnightly payments of 1,500 AUD (926.2 U.S. dollar).

In Malaysia, a total of 43 people have died of COVID-19 with 140 newly confirmed cases, bringing the total number to 2,766, said the Health Ministry.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health reported 47 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to 926.

The death toll in India rose to 32 as the number of confirmed cases in the country reached 1,251.

With mounting cases in the world’s second-most populous country, Indian railways said it was ready to modify 20,000 coaches into quarantine isolation units.

Maldives has seen an overall reduction of COVID-19 cases, with more patients recovering than new ones being confirmed amid stringent precautionary measures taken by the government.

The country has 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19, out of which 13 patients have made a full recovery.

One more COVID-19 patient in Vietnam has recovered on Tuesday, bringing the total cured cases in the country to 56, Vietnam News Agency reported. Its capital city of Hanoi set up makeshift stations providing 10-minute COVID-19 tests for free.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ordered a 15-day nationwide social distancing against COVID-19 starting from Wednesday, requiring people to stay at home, keep a distance of at least 2 meters from others, and avoid gatherings of more than two people.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Health confirmed one more COVID-19 case, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 204.

The Cambodian government decided to give tax breaks for three months to aviation companies starting from March to May to help offset losses caused by the COVID-19.
Myanmar confirmed the first death among its 14 positive COVID-19 cases.

Number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has exceeded 600,000

coronavirus check airport

The world is now in a battle against COVID-19, a disease caused by a previously unknown coronavirus that has spread to over 200 countries and regions.

The following are the updates on the contagious illness.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide has exceeded 600,000, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE).

As of 05:00 Eastern Time (0900 GMT), there have been 601,478 confirmed cases globally, with 27,862 deaths, while more than 130,000 people have recovered from the disease, an interactive map maintained by the CSSE showed.

The United States has the most COVID-19 cases, exceeding 104,000, while Italy has reported over 9,100 deaths, the highest among all nations and regions, according to the update.

WASHINGTON

U.S. medical devices company Abbott Laboratories said late Friday it has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the fastest available point-of-care test for COVID-19.

The test could deliver positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes, the company said in a statement, adding that it expects to deliver 50,000 tests per day, beginning next week.

LILONGWE

Malawi is expected to suspend all international flights from April 1 in efforts to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 though the country has not reported a single confirmed case.

The Department of Civil Aviation Aeronautical Information Services announced this in a statement Friday in line with the declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

SINGAPORE

It would be “a significant challenge” to hold the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) in early June in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said in a Facebook post Saturday.

The annual SLD was held in Singapore in late May or early June by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The think tank has announced earlier that it would call off this year’s SLD scheduled for June 5-7.

Looking at the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, with epicenters now in Europe, Britain and the United States, and travel restrictions imposed by many countries, it would be a significant challenge to hold SLD as scheduled in early June, Ng said.

CANBERRA

With the number of cases nationwide continuing to grow by approximately 20 percent every day, governments across the country are introducing stricter measures to slow the spread.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that from Sunday the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will begin assisting state and territory governments in undertaking quarantine compliance checks of those who are required to be in mandatory isolation after returning from overseas.

South Australia Police on Friday night announced a ban on gatherings of more than 10 people.

Italy sees record high single-day deaths, surpasses China in overall coronavirus cases

coronavirus mask

The cumulative number of coronavirus cases in Italy reached 86,498 on Friday, exceeding the total figure registered in China, according to data by the Civil Protection Department coordinating the national emergency response.

The pandemic also claimed 969 lives, a new single-day record high in fatalities registered here since the outbreak hit the country’s northern regions on Feb. 21.

The death toll grew to 9,134, with 50 fatalities occurred on Thursday and not yet included in the total figure, national commissioner for the emergency Domenico Arcuri explained at a daily press conference.

RISING NUMBERS

In unveiling the new statistics, Arcuri took the place of extraordinary commissioner and Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli, who was under home confinement for the second day in a row due to fever (but negative for coronavirus).

According to the data, 589 new cured people were registered on a daily basis, bringing total recoveries to 10,950.

With 4,401 people tested positive on Friday, the number of active coronavirus infections grew to 66,414. “About 6 percent of the total, or 3,732 patients, are currently in intensive care,” Arcuri explained.

According to epidemiological data released by the National Health Institute (ISS) on Friday (and based on data up to Thursday), at least 6,414 health professionals were among those positive for the coronavirus so far.

“They have an average age of 49 years, and some 35 percent of them are male,” the ISS wrote in a bulletin.

COOPERATION NEEDED

At the press conference, the commissioner stressed statistics in Italy and in many other places around the world “prove how global and wide this health crisis is.”

“In a global crisis, there is a clear need of cooperation, without egoism, and Italy is playing its due part,” he stressed.

Arcuri also recalled Italian authorities were putting much effort in trying to find and purchase equipment and protective gear necessary in the emergency from as many countries as possible.

“We keep cooperating with many countries, and keep buying (equipment) from France, Germany, China, and Russia… while talks are under way with further countries, which are often located very far from us,” he said.

“This is the time of cooperation and solidarity, with no further implication, whether of political or geographical nature. Wherever there is a chance to obtain solutions to our citizens’ problems… that is the right place to go,” he stressed.

Arcuri said all Italian productive and social actors have been called to give their contribution to strengthen industrial production and help the country become more self-sufficient in terms of medical equipment in these exceptional circumstances.

FURTHER MEASURES

In related news on Friday, the country’s Education Minister announced schools would most likely remain shut beyond the national lockdown period so far imposed by the government, which was officially effective until April 3.

“For sure, the school closure will be extended over the April 3 date,” Lucia Azzolina told state TV broadcast RAI 1.

“At the moment, our goal is to ensure students will return to school only after health authorities have guaranteed this is safest… our pupils’ and our educational staff’s health is the priority.”

The minister explained that “information about final exams, both in primary and secondary schools, will be provided to students in the next weeks.”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s cabinet was at work to outline further measures to help the country’s industrial and social fabric sustain the impact of the health crisis. A first package worth 25 billion euros (27.7 billion U.S. dollars) was passed earlier this month.

Addressing the senate on Thursday, Conte said he was confident the government would be able “to offer companies, families, and workers additional allocations, for a total not lower than 50 billion euros (including the first package).”

Global COVID-19 cases surpass 500,000, vaccine at least 12-18 months away

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Confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has surpassed half a million with more than 20,000 deaths, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday, calling them “tragic numbers.”

The situation dashboard by WHO showed a total of 509,164 coronavirus cases have been reported globally as of 10:00 CET Friday, as the virus spread to more than 200 countries and regions.

The global death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 23,335.

Noting that a COVID-19 vaccine is still at least 12 to 18 months away, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros stressed an urgent need for therapeutics to treat patients and save lives.

Speaking of the “Solidarity Trial,” a multi-country clinical study for potential treatments for COVID-19, Tedros said it is a historic trial that will dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work.

Tedros announced that the first batch of patients in Norway and Spain will be shortly enrolled in the clinical study, which compares the safety and effectiveness of four different drugs or drug combinations against the epidemic.

“The more countries who join the trial, the faster we will have results,” Tedros said, noting more than 45 countries and regions are contributing to the trial while more have expressed interest.

Tedros, meanwhile, called on individuals and countries to refrain from using therapeutics that have not been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of COVID-19.

“As the pandemic evolves and more countries are affected, we are learning more and more lessons about what works and what doesn’t,” Tedros said.

He underlined the necessity to follow the evidence, saying that there are no short-cuts.

WHO urges countries to use “a second window of opportunity” to stop COVID-19 transmission

Coronavirus

Calling it “a second window of opportunity”, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday urged countries to use this critical window now to suppress and stop transmission of COVID-19.

This window of opportunity was created by those countries and regions which introduced unprecedented “lockdown” measures to contain COVID-19 pandemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted at a daily briefing, reminding that these measures will not extinguish epidemics on their own.

Tedros recommended six key actions to enable the more precise and targeted measures.

Specifically, Tedros called on countries to expand, train and deploy health care and public health workforce, implement a system to find every suspected case at community level, and ramp up the production, capacity and availability of testing.

He also suggested identifying, adapting and equipping facilities for treating and isolating patients, developing a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts, as well as refocusing the whole of government on suppressing and controlling COVID-19.

“These measures are the best way to suppress and stop transmission, so that when restrictions are lifted, the virus doesn’t resurge,” said Tedros.

The situation dashboard by WHO showed a total of 416,686 cases of COVID-19 were reported worldwide as of 18:00 CET (1700 GMT) Wednesday, as the virus spread to 196 countries and regions.

The global death toll from COVID-19 has climbed to 18,589.

Outside China, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 334,817, among which over 190,000 cases were reported by the four most affected countries with over 30,000 cases each — Italy, the United States, Spain and Germany.

WHO chief says COVID-19 pandemic “accelerating” as global cases top 300,000

France-coronavirus

More than 300,000 cases of COVID-19 have been reported from almost every country and region in the world, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, noting “the pandemic is accelerating.”

Speaking at a daily briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it took 67 days from the first reported case of COVID-19 to reach the first 100,000 cases worldwide, while the second and the third 100,000 cases were reported just within 11 days and 4 days respectively.

“Numbers matter, because they’re not just numbers,” Tedros said, reminding that behind the numbers are people whose lives and families have been turned upside down.

According to the WHO situation dashboard, a total of 332,935 coronavirus cases, including 14,510 deaths, have been reported as of 10:00 CET (09:00 GMT) Monday, as the virus spread to 189 countries and regions.

Outside China, the most affected countries with 10,000 cases each — Italy, the United States, Spain, Germany, Iran and France — have reported over 180,000 cases in total.
Tedros called on countries to make use of both defensive and offensive strategies to combat the epidemic.

As defensive strategies, physical distancing measures like asking people to stay at home is important for slowing down the spread of the virus and buying time, said Tedros.

“To win, we need to attack the virus with aggressive and targeted tactics,” he stressed, urging all countries and regions to test every suspected case, isolate and care for every confirmed patient, and to trace and quarantine every close contact.

Noting that some countries are struggling with the capacity to carry out these offensive measures, Tedros suggested that those countries should mobilize resources internally from less-affected regions to increase capacity.

Besides, the chief of WHO thanked countries for sending emergency medical teams to care for patients and train health workers in other countries that need support.

“This is an incredible example of international solidarity,” Tedros added.

In its efforts to support the global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, China has sent several medical expert teams abroad and provided medical supplies to many countries and regions.

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Global death toll from COVID-19 tops 10,000: WHO

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The pandemic of COVID-19 has killed 11,184 people worldwide as of midnight Friday, as the cumulative number of cases rose to 266,073, according to the situation dashboard released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The dashboard also showed the virus has spread to 182 countries and regions as of 23:59 CET Friday.

Outside China, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 184,657.

Italy, Spain, Iran, Germany, the United States and France are the most affected countries, all with more than 10,000 cases. And these countries have registered more than 130,000 infections in total.

The number of COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 300,000 as of 5 p.m. local time on Saturday (2100 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The fresh figure reached 303,001 cases with 12,944 deaths, the CSSE said.