COVID19: GLOBAL UPDATES

Here are the updates on coronavirus from around the globe:

The Guardian (UK)
UK coronavirus home testing to be made available to millions

London: Millions of 15-minute home coronavirus tests are set to be available on the high street or for Amazon delivery to people self isolating according to Public Health England (PHE), in a move that could restore many people’s lives to a semblance of pre-lockdown normality. Prof Sharon Peacock, the director of the national infection service at PHE, told MPs on the science and technology committee that mass testing in the UK would be possible within days, saying evaluation of the fingerprick tests should be completed this week. The government later took a more cautious line, saying that the tests would not be available so quickly.

The New York Times (USA)
New York has 30,811 confirmed cases

New York: New York State has 30,811 confirmed cases, up more than 5,000 since Tuesday morning. That is more than 7 percent of the 431,000 cases worldwide tallied by The New York Times. There have been 285 deaths in the state. Officials reported late Wednesday that New York City had added 3,223 new confirmed cases since the morning, bringing the city’s total to 20,011. The death tally stood at 280, up from 199 in the morning.

Le Monde (France)
France confined: a third of economic activity suspended, according to INSEE

Paris: Containment measures to combat the coronavirus cause a loss of economic activity of around 35% currently in France, with a “fairly heterogeneous” effect depending on the sector, INSEE estimated Thursday in a note on the economic situation. “Today, we estimate that activity is around 65% of normal,” notes Jean-Luc Tavernier, the director general of INSEE.

ARAB NEWS (Saudi Arabia)

SaudiArabia extends curfew as coronavirus cases reach 900

Jeddah: The Saudi Ministry of Interior will tighten travel restrictions between the country’s 13 regions from Thursday 3 p.m. as the number of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases reaches 900. A second death from the virus was confirmed on Wednesday. The additional measures prevent entering and leaving the cities of Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah, with longer curfew hours imposed on all three cities. The new curfew will start at 3 p.m. instead of 7 p.m.

Dawn (Pakistan)

Pakistan to get $4bn from lending, aid agencies

Islamabad: Pakistan has arranged about $4 billion additional financial assistance from multilateral lending and aid agencies to shore up foreign exchange reserves and budgetary support for fighting adverse impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. “We have made progress in mobilisation of additional funds,” said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, adding that discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were in progress for $1.4bn additional funds for fast track disbursements on same terms as the ongoing fund programme.

The Local (Italy)

Italy reports a slight drop in deaths and cases

Rome: Italy’s coronavirus infection rate slowed for a fourth successive day on Wednesday, and the the total number of deaths also dropped, though still remained high at 683.

This brought the total number of deceased to 7,503, according to the latest data from Italy’s Department of Civil Protection. There were 5,210 new cases confirmed, slightly fewer than Tuesday’s 5,249.
The total number of cases detected in Italy since the outbreak began has now passed 74,000.

EL PAIS (Spain)

With 3,434 deaths, Spain now has more coronavirus victims than China

Madrid: Spain has overtaken China to become the country with the second-highest number of coronavirus fatalities in the world after Italy. The latest figures from the Health Ministry on Wednesday put the number of deaths at 3,434, above the 3,287 recorded in China, and behind Italy, where at least 6,820 people have died from the Covid-19 disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, 738 people died from the virus in Spain, a day-on-day rise of 27%, the Spanish government reported on Wednesday. The number of infections in Spain rose to 47,610 – a jump of 7,937 or 20% since Tuesday.  

Egypt Independent (Egypt)

Egypt confirms one new death, 36 additional coronavirus cases, raising total to 402

Cairo: Twenty people have died from the virus in Egypt, as well as two senior military officers. Health Ministry Spokesperson Khaled Megahed explained that the newly infected cases are all Egyptian nationals, except for one foreign national who was in contact with previously confirmed cases of the virus.

The latest death announced on Tuesday is of a 54-year-old Egyptian woman from Alexandria. Meanwhile, 12 previously confirmed cases registered in Egypt, including three foreigners and nine Egyptians, were discharged from the hospital on Monday, bringing the total number of fully-recovered cases to 80 so far.