Canada says coronavirus death toll could be between 11,000 and 22,000
Read the latest on the spread of the novel coronavirus around the world here
WHO's new funding appeal for coronavirus fight to top $1 billion: diplomats
The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to launch an appeal soon for more than $1 billion to fund operations against the COVID-19 pandemic through year-end, diplomats told Reuters on Thursday.
It comes against the backdrop of a salvo lobbed by US President Donald Trump against the WHO over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggestions from his administration it might re-evaluate US funding.
The UN agency needs more resources than ever as it leads the global response against the disease that has infected 1.4 million people and killed 85,000, diplomats and experts say.
India struggles to contain coronavirus, enforce lockdown in sprawling city slums
India faces an uphill battle to contain coronavirus outbreaks in the slums of the vast financial capital Mumbai amid fears the virus is gathering pace in the dense, unsanitary alleyways where it is next to impossible to enforce a full lockdown.
India, the world's second most populous country after China with 1.3 billion people, has reported more than 5,800 cases of the virus, including 169 deaths, a far cry from the high tolls in several European countries and the United States.
But the western state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital, has emerged as a hotspot with over 1,100 of those cases.
Hungary prolongs lockdown indefinitely - PM Orban
Hungary has prolonged a nationwide lockdown indefinitely to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on his Facebook page on Thursday, asking citizens to observe the order despite the Easter holiday.
Hungary has officially recorded 980 confirmed cases and 66 deaths in the pandemic, although the government has acknowledged the number of actual cases is probably much higher as the country nears the phase of mass infections.
Merkel says no to 'coronabonds'
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday rejected demands by Italy for common euro zone bonds to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that Germany would back other instruments to help countries hard-hit by the crisis.
"I spoke today with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for a long time and we agree that there is an urgent need for solidarity in Europe, which is going through one of its most difficult hours, if not the most difficult," Merkel said.
Kenyan official charged with wilfully spreading coronavirus
A Kenyan court charged a senior regional government official on Thursday with wilfully spreading the novel coronavirus by going out in public without taking precautions, an accusation he denied.
Kenya, which has 179 confirmed cases and six deaths from the coronavirus, has banned all public gatherings and limited the number of mourners at funerals.
The Deputy Governor of the coastal region of Kilifi County, Gideon Saburi, was arrested on Friday after completing a 14-day government-enforced quarantine after the health ministry said he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Mombasa Senior Magistrate’s court accused him of committing the crime between March 6 and 22, but gave no details.
Hong Kong tourism chief pins hopes on recovery starting by July
The impact of the novel coronavirus on Hong Kong's tourism sector is unprecedented and the city can hope to start seeing things returning to normal by July, in part by trying to develop new markets, the head of the tourism board told Reuters.
The coronavirus crisis has paralysed the global financial hub's economy, which was already reeling from months of anti-government protests, with travel restrictions to curb the spread of infection grinding tourism to a halt.
Slovakia closes off five Roma settlements due to coronavirus
Slovakia has closed off several Roma settlements in the eastern part of the country after reports of a cluster of coronavirus cases in five of them, highlighting difficulties faced by Europe’s largest ethnic minority during the pandemic.
Roma communities across eastern Europe are impoverished, plagued by high unemployment and historically the target of discrimination, and the coronavirus outbreak has many feeling more vulnerable.
Slovakian Prime Minister Igor Matovic announced on Wednesday that at least 31 people had tested positive for the coronavirus. The Slovak authorities said they would ensure food deliveries and access to healthcare in the enclaves, despite restrictions on movement.
England's coronavirus hospital death toll rises 765 to 7,248
The coronavirus death toll in English hospitals rose 765 to 7,248, up from 6,483 day before, The Sun newspaper reported.
NHS England, which supplies the figures each day, did not confirm the numbers and could not explain why the figures had appeared before the official release.
Canada says coronavirus death toll could be between 11,000 and 22,000
The Canadian death toll from the coronavirus outbreak is likely to be between 11,000 and 22,000 by the end of the pandemic, health officials said on Thursday, outlining the two most likely scenarios.
The officials told a briefing that they expected between 500 and 700 people by April 16. The death toll so far is 435.
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman has recovered from COVID-19
Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N) Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said he has fully recovered from the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a video that was sent to the bank’s employees on Thursday.
A Morgan Stanley spokesman confirmed the contents of the video, adding that the development was not considered to be material because Gorman was not incapacitated at any time.
Morgan Stanley had not disclosed earlier that Gorman had tested positive for the respiratory disease.
Some African countries heading for peak in coronavirus cases in weeks - WHO official
Some African countries could see a peak in coronavirus cases in the coming weeks, and testing should be urgently increased in the region, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Thursday.
"During the last four days we can see that the numbers have already doubled," Michel Yao, the WHO Africa programme manager for emergency response, told a media teleconference on Thursday.
"If the trend continues, and also learning from what happened in China and in Europe, some countries may face a huge peak very soon," he said, adding it could arrive in the coming weeks but without naming countries.
Czechs hope targeted 'smart quarantine' plan will let them lift blanket restrictions
The Czech Republic is planning to roll out a system of quickly tracking and isolating contacts of people with coronavirus to eventually allow the lifting of blanket restrictions that are slowing the rise in infections but also crippling the economy.
Over the past five days, the average daily increase in new cases was 224, down from the previous five days despite more people being tested, and giving a total of 5,335 infections in the country of 10.7 million. The death toll stands at 104.
The slow-down in new infections is helping create the space to push ahead with a South Korea-inspired tracking system - with army testing teams and call centres using cellphone and bank card data to trace contacts of patients and get them into quarantine as well.
Story book released to help children and young people cope with Covid-19
A new story book titled "My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!" has been released as both an online product and an audio book to help children and young people to cope with Covid-19.
In order to reach as many children as possible, the book will be widely translated, with six language versions released today and more than 30 others in the pipeline.
China reclassifies dogs as pets, not livestock, in post-virus regulatory push
China has drawn up new guidelines to reclassify dogs as pets rather than livestock, the agriculture ministry said, part of a response to the coronavirus outbreak that the Humane Society called a potential "game changer" in animal welfare.
Though dog meat remains a delicacy in many regions, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a notice published on Wednesday that dogs would no longer be considered as livestock. It uses that designation for animals that can be bred to provide food, milk, fur, fibre and medicine, or to serve the needs of sports or the military.
Restrictions in Germany are flattening virus curve - minister
Restrictions on public life in Germany are taking effect and are flattening the curve showing new cases of the coronavirus, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Thursday.
“The number of newly reported infections is flattening out, we are seeing a linear increase again rather than the dynamic, exponential increase we saw in mid-March,” Spahn told a news conference.
Singapore reports 287 new coronavirus cases in biggest daily jump
Singapore confirmed 287 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, the biggest daily increase yet, taking the total in the city-state to 1,910, its health ministry said.
More than 200 of the new cases were linked to outbreaks in foreign worker dormitories. Singapore has quarantined thousands of workers in dormitories after they were linked to several cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease.
Six people infected with the disease have died in Singapore and authorities are investigating the death of a seventh person who was also infected but had other complications.
IMF chief says pandemic will unleash worst recession since Great Depression
The pandemic sweeping the world will turn global economic growth "sharply negative" in 2020, triggering the worst fallout since the 1930s Great Depression, with only a partial recovery seen in 2021, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva painted a far bleaker picture of the social and economic impact of the new coronavirus than even a few weeks ago, noting governments had already undertaken fiscal stimulus measures of $8 trillion, but more would likely be needed.
She said the crisis would hit emerging markets and developing countries hardest of all, which would then need hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid.
ECB minutes show qualms about pulling out all stops in virus fight
European Central Bank policymakers feared a rapid deterioration of the euro zone economy when they decided on an raft of emergency measures but some still expressed reservation about launching new bond purchases, the accounts of the March 18 emergency showed on Thursday.
With financial markets in meltdown and borrowing costs soaring for the euro zone's weaker members, the ECB agreed in a late night meeting to discard many of its previous stimulus rules and buy up to 1.1 trillion euros of debt this year to help struggling firms and governments.
'Sadness in my heart': Residents of China's Hubei, freed from lockdown, face suspicion
Driving to a factory in China's southeastern province of Fujian to meet a friend, Ye Jing was stopped by a security guard soon after returning from two months of lockdown in Hubei, the province hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
"His whole manner and actions changed," the shoe factory manager said, after the guard spotted her Hubei licence plate and asked where she was from.
"He immediately went to put on gloves and distanced himself from me. And he wouldn't let me in."
Ye reassured the guard that she had tested negative for the virus, but he responded, "I don't trust your test results."
She added, then, "I really felt sadness in my heart."
In overcrowded cells, Bahrain's political prisoners fear coronavirus threat
When jailed Bahraini activist Abdullah Habeeb Swar developed a bad cough that lasted several days, his 14 cell mates feared he might have contracted the coronavirus and would spread it through their overcrowded wing.
They share a cell designed to sleep eight in one of three wings in Manama’s Jaw prison reserved for detainees sentenced on security-related charges.
“You can imagine how scared they were,” Swar told Reuters by telephone, referring to last month’s coughing fits.
He is one of hundreds of opposition politicians, activists, journalists and human rights defenders sentenced in mass trials. Detained in 2019 after six years in hiding and serving a 40-year term, Swar said he was not seen by a doctor.
Germany: Gradual return to normality possible if infection trend continues
German Health Minister Jens Spahn told newspaper Handelsblatt that the coronavirus infection numbers in Germany were showing a “positive trend” and if that continued, it would be possible to talk about a gradual return to normality after the Easter break.
He said citizens sticking to the restrictions on public life over the Easter holiday was a precondition for a possible easing of the lockdown.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany will re-evaluate the situation after the Easter holiday.
African leaders rally around WHO head after Trump criticism
African leaders have rallied around the Ethiopian head of the World Health Organization (WHO) after US President Donald Trump criticised the United Nations agency and threatened to withhold his country's contribution to its budget.
Trump had on Tuesday accused the WHO of being too focused on China and of issuing bad advice on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Malaysia reports 109 new coronavirus cases with two new deaths
Malaysia reported 109 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, raising its cumulative total to 4,228 cases as Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy grapples with the highest number of infections in the region.
The health ministry also reported two new deaths, raising the total number of fatalities to 67.
India and Pakistan locked in border fighting amid coronavirus crisis
Indian and Pakistani troops in disputed Kashmir are engaged in their most frequent cross-border fighting of at least two years, official data shows, even as both nuclear-armed rivals battle surging coronavirus outbreaks.
Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between the neighbours but tension was renewed after New Delhi withdrew the autonomy of the Himalayan region last August and split it into federally-administered territories.
Under-used Swiss hospitals hint at hidden toll of coronavirus
Swiss emergency rooms and hospitals are quieter than usual despite an influx of COVID-19 patients, a worrying sign that some doctors say could mean more people are dying at home from other ailments.
Concerned about the trend amid the pandemic, staff at the Cardiocentro hospital in the southern canton of Ticino bordering on hard-hit Italy called its regular patients to check up on them.
One of them had been quietly suffering from a heart vessel problem at home for days and, once he was coaxed to come in, was operated on urgently. Another died before coming into hospital.
Lebanon defence council urges extending corona lockdown by two weeks
Lebanon’s higher defence council advised the government on Thursday to extend the country’s month-long coronavirus shutdown by another two weeks until April 26.
The cabinet is expected to take the decision in a session on Thursday. The council also called for a crack down on violations of the lockdown and overnight curfew.
A government report on Wednesday put the number of infections at 575, with 19 deaths.
Business leaders warn free testing order by court may hinder India's virus fight
A decision by the Supreme Court of India to make testing for coronavirus free places an unfair financial burden on medical firms and could see a reduction in testing, already among the world's lowest, said business leaders and health experts.
The concern is that private medical firms, like many businesses in India are struggling financially, and could go under if they tested for free without financial assistance.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon Limited, one of India's biggest biotech firms, said private institutions could not be expected to operate on credit.
"Humanitarian in intent but impractical to implement - I fear testing will plummet," Shaw said on twitter on Thursday about the court judgement.
Bangladesh reports 112 new coronavirus cases, one more death
Bangladesh today confirmed one more death from the novel coronavirus and 112 new cases of infection in the country.
Some 1,097 samples were tested for coronavirus in last 24 hours.
With this, the death toll rises to 21 from the virus and a total of 330 people are infected so far, The Business Standard reported.
Germany's coronavirus cases rise by 4,974, deaths by 246
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Germany rose by 4,974 in the past 24 hours to 108,202 on Thursday, climbing for the third straight day after four previous days of drops, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.
The reported death toll rose by 246 to 2,107, Reuters reported.
Philippines' coronavirus infections top 4,000
The Philippines reported 21 new deaths and 206 additional cases of the coronavirus, the health ministry yesterday.
Total deaths have reached 203 and cases have risen to 4,076 while 28 more patients have recovered to take that total to 124, the ministry said in a bulletin, Reuters reported.
Indonesia reports biggest daily jump in coronavirus infections
Indonesia confirmed on Thursday the biggest daily jump in coronavirus infections since cases were first announced last month, with 337 new cases taking the total to 3,293, said a health ministry official, Achmad Yurianto.
Yurianto reported 40 new deaths, taking the total to 280, while 252 people have recovered, Reuters reported.
Chinese President warns of ‘new difficulties and challenges’ amid rising risk of a second wave
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned against the risk of a second wave of infections in the country as the global pandemic continues to spread.
In a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party's top decision-making body yesterday, the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi said that amid growing downward pressures on the global economy, "unstable and uncertain factors" were increasing, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
China's outbreak of the coronavirus is apparently under control, with few new locally transmitted infections or deaths announced in recent weeks. On Wednesday, the epicenter of the original outbreak, Wuhan, officially ended its lockdown.
"New difficulties and challenges have emerged for China's work resumption and economic and social development," the president said.
Xi urged Chinese authorities to carefully watch for imported cases from abroad and prevent a resurgence of the outbreak at home.
Russia's coronavirus cases surpass 10,000 after record daily rise
Russia on Thursday reported a record one-day rise of 1,459 new cases of coronavirus, pushing its national case total to 10,131.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose by 13 to 76, the national coronavirus crisis response centre said, Reuters reported.
'Up to 150 Saudi royals get infected with coronavirus'
At least 150 members of the Saudi royal family may have been infected with the Covid-19, six weeks after the kingdom reported its first case.
As the severity of the outbreak across the kingdom escalates, as many as 500 beds are reportedly prepared for royals in some of the country's elite hospitals, The New York Times reported.
King Salman's nephew, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is in intensive care, according to the Times.
UN chief calls for unity after Trump slams WHO
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said it was not the time to criticize the early response to the coronavirus pandemic, after US President Donald Trump attacked the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Once we finally turn the page on this epidemic there must be a time to look back fully … But now it is not that time," Guterres said in a statement, AFP reported.
"Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences."
Thailand reports 54 new coronavirus cases, two more deaths
Thailand reported 54 new coronavirus cases and 2 more deaths today, including a 74-year-old French national.
An 82-year-old Thai man also died, said a spokesman for the government's Center for CoVID-19 Situation Administration, Reuters reported.
The new cases include five Thais repatriated from Indonesia who had traveled to South Sulawesi province for a religious gathering last month before the event was postponed.
Thailand has reported a total of 2,423 cases and 32 fatalities, while 940 patients have recovered and gone home since the outbreak started in January.
Iran coronavirus deaths near 4,000
Iran on Wednesday reported 121 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing its overall number of fatalities to 3,993.
In the past 24 hours, 1,997 new cases of COVID-19 infection were detected in Iran, AFP reported.
That put the number of confirmed cases at 64,586.
Iran, which announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, is by far the worst hit by the pandemic in the Middle East, according to official tolls.
Japan coronavirus infections reach at least 5,000 cases
The total number of Japanese novel coronavirus infections hit 5,002 on Thursday, NHK public broadcaster said, showing no signs of slowing despite Japan's move this week to impose a state of emergency on Tokyo and six other areas.
The new cases were reported in nearly all parts of Japan and included at least five police officers in Fujisawa, a city just south of Tokyo, Kyodo news agency said, Reuters reported.
Coronavirus cases recorded in Europe pass 750,000
More than 750,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded across Europe, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 1100 GMT.
That accounts for more than half of the cases identified worldwide so far, although the official figures probably reflect a fraction of the actual number, AFP reported.
With at least 750,276 cases and 58,627 recorded, Europe Europe remains the continent hit hardest by the pandemic.
To date, 1,438,291 cases of novel coronavirus have been recorded across the world, and 82,726 deaths.
Italy has been the worst-hit country, recording 17,127 fatalities out of 135,586 cases.
Spain has recorded 14,555 deaths from 146,690 cases.
China seeks to contain 'silent carriers' of coronavirus
China released new measures on Wednesday to try and prevent asymptomatic "silent carriers" of coronavirus from causing a second wave of infections, as the country reported another modest rise in new confirmed cases.
Mainland China reported 63 new confirmed cases on Wednesday, up from 62 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said. Of those, 61 were travellers arriving from overseas, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in China to 81,865, Reuters reported.
France to extend lockdown, coronavirus death toll close to 11,000
France reported some positive coronavirus-linked data on Wednesday, with the increase of hospital death fatalities slowing again, but the presidential palace said nonetheless the national lockdown aimed at containing the disease would be extended.
The lockdown, that took effect on March 17 and has already been extended once, will now go beyond April 15, a move that was widely expected, Reuters reported.
20 doctors at Mexican public hospital test positive for coronavirus
At least 20 doctors at a public hospital outside Mexico City have tested positive for the coronavirus, the head of Mexico’s social security institute (IMSS) said on Wednesday, in the second major outbreak among health workers in the country.
He said the transmission did not originate inside the facility, and that it had been tracked to three separate cases - one patient and two doctors who did not have contact with each other, Reuters reported.
He said the cluster was not similar to an outbreak in the city of Monclova in the northern border state of Coahuila, where 45 health workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the state’s health ministry.
Two weeks ago, workers at the Tlanepantla hospital protested outside the building to demand more medical equipment to handle coronavirus cases.
New York reports 779 more deaths, governor says social distancing working
New York's efforts at social distancing are working to get the coronavirus outbreak under control even as the state reported an additional 779 deaths, a record high for a second day, the Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.
Cuomo, who has emerged as a leading national voice on the outbreak, said he never thought he would ever again experience a disaster on the scale of the September 11, 2001 ,attacks and called the mounting death toll "almost unimaginable to me."
The governor acknowledged that it was a "very real possibility" that deaths in New York were being undercounted as people died in their homes, and called for continued adherence to business closures and other social distancing steps.
Cuomo ordered all flags to be flown at half-staff across New York, where 6,268 people have now died from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, accounting for nearly half the deaths in the United States.
"Don't start doing a retrospective like it's over," Cuomo told a daily briefing. "We are not through it. It's not over."
Cuomo pointed to the fall in new hospitalizations on Tuesday to 586 on Tuesday, down from 656 a day earlier, and other data points as evidence that New York was "bending the curve" and gaining some control over the rate of infections, Reuters reported.
But he warned that the death count would continue at the current level, if not climb higher, over the next several days as those hospitalized more than a week ago and put on a ventilator machine passed away.
He also warned that any relaxing of social distancing steps - on Tuesday he extended the state's closure of non-essential businesses and schools until the end of April - risked reversing the gains.
"This is just a small snapshot in time where we are," Cuomo said. "You have four or five days of flattening. You could have tomorrow morning we wake up and the number is back up."
Cuomo called for research into why people from minority communities were dying at disproportionate rates, a phenomenon that has become increasingly clear over the past few days as more states disclosed the racial makeup of the deceased.
US coronavirus cases rise by more than 33,000 in just one day
The United States has recorded at least 432,132 cases of the novel coronavirus, after 33,323 new infections were reported on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The country's death toll stands at 14,817, following 1,922 fatalities reported on Wednesday -- the largest increase in one day, CNN reported.
The US totals includes cases from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US territories, as well as all repatriated cases.
Wyoming is still the only state or territory that is not reporting a death from coronavirus.
Cats can catch coronavirus, study finds, prompting WHO investigation
Cats can become infected with the new coronavirus but dogs appear not to be vulnerable, according to a study published on Wednesday, prompting the WHO to say it will take a closer look at transmission of the virus between humans and pets.
The study, published on the website of the journal Science, found that ferrets can also become infected with SARS-CoV-2, the scientific term for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, Reuters reported.
Dogs, chickens, pigs and ducks are not likely to catch the virus, however, the researchers found.
Malta records its first coronavirus death
Malta announced its first death from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a 92-year-old woman with severe underlying medical problems.
The tiny Mediterranean island reported its first case of the disease a month ago and since then 299 people have tested positive, with four patients receiving intensive care hospital treatment, Reuters reported.
Malta confirmed six new cases on Wednesday after a spike of 52 infections announced on Tuesday.
Peru`s Vizcarra extends state of emergency to April 26
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra on Wednesday extended the country’s state of emergency declared to contain the novel coronavirus for two more weeks to April 26.
Vizcarra announced the extension, which includes a nationwide quarantine in the world’s second largest copper producer, as it reached 2,954 confirmed cases of the virus and 107 deaths. The first confirmed case in Peru was on March 6, Reuters reported.
“We cannot let our guard down, we cannot reduce the effort we are making and the gains we are achieving just as we reach the most difficult stage,” Vizcarra said in a speech broadcast on television.
Mexico registers 3,181 cases of coronavirus and 174 deaths
Mexico has registered 396 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the country’s total to 3,181 cases as well as 174 deaths, the health ministry said yesterday, Reuters reported.
Egypt extends nationwide night-time curfew to counter coronavirus
Egypt will extend a nationwide night-time curfew by 15 days until April 23 to counter the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday.
Airports will also stay closed until the end of the month, he said in a televised news conference, adding that the curfew would now start one hour later at 8pm local time (1800 GMT) each evening, Reuters reported.
The government also extended the closure of schools and universities, while malls, cafes and shops will close at night and on weekends.
Authorities face a challenge tackling the virus in a country of 100 million people where many live in fertile rural areas along the Nile river and public health services can be severely stretched.
Like other countries, Egypt has taken steps to curtail the impact of coronavirus on the economy.
These include a surprise 3% interest rate cut, cash transfers to informal workers, salary payments for laid-off regular employees via an emergency fund, plus an injection of 20 billion Egyptian pounds (£1.03 billion) to support the stock market.
Honduras registers 31 new cases of coronavirus, bringing total to 343 cases and 23 deaths
Honduras will extend its national curfew to April 19 as the country ramps up efforts to contain the coronavirus, the security ministry said yesterday.
The Central American country registered 31 new cases of the virus, bringing its total to 343 cases and 23 deaths, the system for risk prevention said, Reuters reported.
Spain daily virus deaths 757, second successive rise
Spain recorded a second successive daily rise in coronavirus-related deaths with 757 fatalities, lifting the total toll to 14,555, the health ministry said Wednesday.
The number of new infections in the world’s second hardest-hit country after Italy also grew to 146,690, up from 140,510, it added, AFP reported.
