Keeping you up to date on the latest novel coronavirus
(Covid-19) news from around the world.
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Coronavirus toll at 11:00 (GMT) Tuesday
Paris – The novel coronavirus has killed at least
286 122 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December,
according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 11:00 (GMT) on
Tuesday.
At least 4 188 040 cases of coronavirus have been
registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1 432 700 are
now considered recovered.
The tallies, using data collected by AFP from
national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO),
probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many
countries are testing only the most serious cases.
The US has the highest number of total deaths with
80 684 out of 1 347 936 cases. At least 232 733 have been declared recovered. Britain
has the second highest toll with 32 065 deaths from 223 060 cases.
It is followed by Italy with 30 739 deaths and 219 814
cases, Spain with 26 920 fatalities and 228 030 infections and France with 26 643
deaths and 177 423 cases.
– AFP
Russia has world’s second highest number of virus
cases – AFP
Moscow – Russia has the world’s second-highest
number of coronavirus infections after reporting another 10 899 new cases on
Tuesday, an AFP tally says.
The new cases brought Russia’s total to 232 243,
surpassing the number of infections in Britain and Spain and now behind only
the United States which has reported more than 1.3 million, according to the
tally compiled from official sources.
But with only 2 116 virus deaths reported so far, Russia’s mortality
rate has been much lower in comparison with the United States, Spain, Italy and
other countries with similar infection rates.
Russia moved to ease a nationwide coronavirus
lockdown on Tuesday despite the surge in cases. With pressure building to get
the economy moving again, President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced an end
to a national “non-working” period in place since late March.
– AFP
New UK care home death stats indicate higher toll
London – Britain’s Office for National Statistics
(ONS) on Tuesday said more people have died from the coronavirus in the UK than
the official national toll suggests, after more care home deaths were linked to
the outbreak.
The ONS and regional health bodies registered 36 473
deaths from or mentioning Covid-19 up until 1 May, in contrast to the government
tally which said 27 510 people had died up to that day.
The government’s rolling daily toll on Monday stood
at 32 065, which already makes Britain the worst-affected country in Europe and
the second-worst globally.
The ONS data showed that 8 312 people died in care
homes across England and Wales by 1 May. But ONS statistician Nick Stripe said: “If we feed in the figures from…last week, there’s about another 1 500,
1 600 notified.
“So that puts us close to 10 000 Covid-related
deaths in care homes by May 8,” he told BBC television.
“In the last (published) week, 40% of all
deaths that mention Covid were in care homes – that’s up from 34% last week and
about four weeks ago, that was about 5%.
“So care homes is showing the slowest decline,
sadly… There were more deaths in total in care homes than there were in
hospitals in that week, I’ve never seen that before.”
– AFP
Angola police ‘accidentally’ kill man in social
gathering dispersal
Luanda – An Angolan citizen has been shot dead by
police enforcing social distancing measures against the coronavirus in the
capital Luanda, the government and a witness said.
Antonio Domingos Vulola, 21, was gunned down on
Saturday after police clashed with a group of people caught flouting a
nationwide curfew and a ban on social gatherings in Luanda’s impoverished
Huambo neighbourhood.
“The citizens showed resistance and set out to
attack the forces of law, throwing sticks stones and bottles,” an interior
ministry statement said late on Monday. “In defence of their own physical
integrity, law enforcement officers fired shots that accidentally hit the
citizens in question.”
The victim’s brother told AFP that Vulola was shot
in the head while fleeing the scuffle.
“The police arrived and started hitting [even]
those with masks,” Joao Antonio Vulola recalled. “My brother had no
mask…so he decided to flee and it was from there that the agent shot three
bullets: one in the air and two at my brother’s head, who died on the
spot.”
– AFP
New Zealand says coronavirus will not stop September elections
New Zealand’s Electoral Commission has unveiled
measures designed to allow elections to proceed as planned in September,
despite the coronavirus threat.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the 19 September
election date in January, before the global scale of the contagion was
apparent, and has repeatedly said she does not plan to move it.
– AFP
Bangladesh prisoner dies of coronavirus
A 53-year-old prisoner awaiting trial has become
Bangladesh’s first confirmed coronavirus fatality in the country’s overcrowded
jails.
The unnamed man died due to respiratory problems at
a northeastern Sylhet city hospital on 8 May, but a local laboratory later
confirmed he had Covid-19.
Inmates who shared a cell with him have been
isolated, officials said.
– AFP
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