Coronavirus: Nearly 96% of Americans have been ordered to stay at home
Read the latest on the spread of the novel coronavirus around the world here
Death in the Holy Land: Coronavirus changes burial for Jews, Muslims
A rising death toll in the coronavirus crisis is forcing a change in Jewish and Muslim burial and mourning traditions in the Holy Land.
In Israel, Jewish dead are normally laid to rest in a cloth smock and shroud, without a coffin. Now, the bodies of coronavirus victims are taken for ritual washing - performed in full protective gear - wrapped in impermeable plastic.
They are wrapped again in plastic before interment.
UK worst case is 50,000 coronavirus death toll but not on course for that - source
The British government's worst case scenario envisages a coronavirus death toll of 50,000 people if self isolating is not adhered to but the United Kingdom is not right now on course for a toll of that scale, a source familiar with the government's emergency discussions said.
According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, the worst day for deaths is projected to be April 12, which this year is Easter Sunday.
Iraq has confirmed thousands more Covid-19 cases than reported, medics say
Iraq has thousands of confirmed Covid-19 cases, many times more than the 772 it is has publicly reported, according to three doctors closely involved in the testing process, a health ministry official and a senior political official.
The sources all spoke on condition of anonymity. Iraqi authorities have instructed medical staff not to speak to media.
Potential Covid-19 vaccine shows promise in mouse study
Initial tests in mice of a potential Covid-19 vaccine delivered via a fingertip-sized patch have shown it can induce an immune response against the new coronavirus at levels that might prevent infection, US scientists said on Thursday.
Researchers around the world are working to develop potential treatments or vaccines against the respiratory disease that has killed nearly 47,000 people and infected almost a million in just a few months.
'Dear Elon': Ukraine takes up Tesla's ventilator offer via Twitter
Ukraine has taken to Twitter to ask Elon Musk to send it ventilators after the billionaire chief executive of Tesla Inc offered to ship them across the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Musk said this week he was ready to send the life-saving machines wherever his company delivers, free of charge.
"Dear Elon, Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe with population nearly 40 mln citizens," Kiev's embassy in Washington wrote on Twitter late on Wednesday.
Romanian doctors will get 500 euro per month coronavirus bonus
Romanian doctors, nurses and other personnel dealing with coronavirus cases will receive a monthly bonus of about 500 euros ($543.10) a month, President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday.
“I demanded the government to reroute European (Union) funding, to give a monthly bonus of 500 euros to front line personnel dealing with Covid infected patients. I am prepared to deliver solutions,” Iohannis told a video briefing.
About 15 percent of all coronavirus infections in Romania are medical personnel.
Stuck at home and jobless, Americans confront growing costs of coronavirus
A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, the US government said on Thursday, after another four states told residents to stay at home in the latest signs of the human and economic cost of the coronavirus.
Initial jobless claims rocketed as more states imposed stay-at-home orders, forcing large and small businesses to curtail output or shut altogether. More than 80 percent of Americans in 39 states are now under orders to remain at home to contain the spread of the virus.
Coronavirus leaves Senegal's street children more exposed than ever
Dozens of children in plastic sandles and shabby clothing rounded a street corner in Senegal’s capital Dakar and sprinted towards a car manned by volunteers bearing sandwiches and water.
The daily food distribution is run by Village Pilote, a local charity that has stepped up its efforts to help Dakar’s street children during the coronavirus outbreak.
Life has always been difficult for the children, who have ended up on the street for various reasons. But the expanding outbreak, which has infected 195 people to date, and resulting dusk-to-dawn curfew ordered by the government last month have left the children more vulnerable than ever.
As Spain battles virus, medics' unions hit out
When Spain’s first case of coronavirus was recorded on Jan. 31 - a German tourist in La Gomera, one of the remote Canary Islands - there seemed little cause for concern.
“We believe that Spain will have, at most, not more than a few diagnosed cases,” Fernando Simon, the country’s health emergency chief, told reporters.
Now, COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, has killed more people in Spain than China, where it originated.
Across the globe, the pandemic has swamped health systems and triggered calls for more and better protective equipment for those fighting it.
Saudi Arabia imposes 24-hour curfew in Mecca and Medina
Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina on Thursday, extending measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 1,700 people in the kingdom and killed 16.
The interior ministry said in a statement there were some exceptions, including for essential workers and in order for residents to buy food and access medical care. Cars in those cities' residential districts may only carry one passenger to limit the virus' transmission, it said.
As coronavirus spreads, UN seeks Yemen urgent peace talks resumption
The United Nations and Western allies are pointing to the threat of coronavirus to push Yemen's combatants to agree to fresh talks to end a war that has left millions vulnerable to disease, the UN and sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The world body has sent a proposal to the internationally recognised government, the Saudi-led military coalition that supports it and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that holds the capital Sanaa and most major towns, said two of the sources.
They said UN special envoy Martin Griffiths is working to convene the parties via video conference soon to discuss the working document that calls for a nationwide ceasefire, including halting all air, ground and naval hostilities, and for the parties to ensure compliance by forces on frontlines.
French region reports hundreds dead in nursing homes since virus outbreak
Five hundred and seventy people have died in nursing homes in France's eastern region during the coronavirus outbreak, raising the prospect of a much larger death toll linked to the illness across the country.
France became the fourth country to pass the 4,000 coronavirus deaths threshold on Wednesday, but that does not include deaths outside hospitals.
Muslim coronavirus victim in Mumbai cremated after burial was denied
A 65-year-old Muslim man who died of coronavirus infection in India's Mumbai, was cremated after the trustees of a cemetery denied permission to bury his body there, his family members alleged on Thursday.
The cremation took place on Wednesday, reported NDTV.
The coronavirus patient died at a civic-run hospital in Mumbai's Jogeshwari East early on Wednesday.
Swiss coronavirus cases top 18,000, death toll rises to 432
The Swiss death toll from the coronavirus epidemic has risen to 432, the country's public health agency said here on Thursday, from 378 people on Wednesday.
The number of positive tests increased to 18,267 from 17,139, it said.
EU executive chief concerned Hungary emergency measures go too far
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed concern on Thursday that coronavirus restriction measures taken by Hungary went too far and insisted they should be limited in time and subject to scrutiny.
Hungary's parliament on Monday granted Prime Minister Viktor Orban an open-ended right to rule by decree and introduced jail sentences for anyone hindering measures to curb the spread of the virus or spreading false information about the pandemic.
Under pressure, Johnson vows 'massive' coronavirus tests increase
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ramp up testing for coronavirus after his government faced criticism for being slower than some European peers to roll out mass checks for front-line health workers and the population.
Britain initially took a restrained approach to the outbreak but changed tack after modelling showed a quarter of a million people in the country could perish.
In about-turn, Catalonia seeks Spanish military help for coronavirus
The separatist government of Spain's Catalonia region abandoned its initial reluctance and asked the national military on Thursday for assistance in tackling the coronavirus.
Spain has the world's second highest death toll after Italy, and Catalonia is its second worst-hit region with 2,093 deaths and 21,804 cases recorded and 1,855 people in intensive care.
Indonesia virus death toll rises to highest in Asia outside China
Indonesia's coronavirus death toll rose to 170 on Thursday as the world's fourth most populous nation passed South Korea as the country with the highest number of recorded fatalities in Asia after China.
Indonesia reported a further 13 deaths and 113 new cases, taking its total number of infections to 1,790. South Korea has reported 169 deaths and 9,976 infections, according to the latest figures released there.
India's stranded migrant workers struggle under virus lockdown
India's 21-day lockdown to fight the coronavirus has left hundreds of migrant workers stranded in Mumbai, with no money, little food and even fewer options of leaving their squalid makeshift accommodation soon.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown, tens of thousands of migrant workers crammed into buses or walked for days to get back to their native villages.
Singapore's coronavirus struggle shows colossal task of global containment
Held up as a role model for its battle against coronavirus, city-state Singapore is struggling with an infection spread that disease experts say bodes ill for global containment efforts.
The tiny Southeast Asian nation was one of the worst hit countries when the virus first spread from China in January, but a strict surveillance and quarantine regime helped stem the tide, with methods that drew praise from the World Health Organisation.
More than a quarter of UK firms cut staff as coronavirus hits - ONS
More than a quarter of British companies reduced staff levels over the short term as the coronavirus crisis began to hammer the country's economy, a survey published on Thursday showed.
"Over a quarter (27 percent) of responding businesses said they were reducing staff levels in the short term, while 5 percent reported recruiting staff in the short term," the Office for National Statistics said.
Indonesia's coronavirus infection rises to 1,790: official
Indonesia confirmed 113 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country to 1,790, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.
He reported 13 new deaths from the virus, taking the total to 170, while a total of 112 so far had recovered.
New York state's virus deaths jump to more than 1,900
New York's COVID-19 death count more than doubled in 72 hours to 1,941.
One month after New York discovered its first infection — a health care worker returning from Iran — the state tallied more than 83,000 positive cases. The 1,941 deaths were up from 965 Sunday morning, AP reported.
With more than 12,000 people hospitalised, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the latest outbreak projections show no respite this month.
"What we're looking at now is the apex — the top of the curve — roughly at the end of April, which means another month of this," Cuomo told a state Capitol news briefing.
Philippines reports 11 new coronavirus deaths, 322 more infections
The Philippines' health ministry on Thursday recorded 11 new deaths and 322 additional cases from the coronavirus outbreak.
The latest figures bring the total death toll to 107 and infections to 2,633, Health Secretary Francisco Duque told a regular news conference, reiterating that people should stay home while the country's main island of Luzon is under a month-long strict quarantine, Reuters reported.
Malaysia reports 208 new coronavirus cases, total over 3,000
Malaysia reported 208 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the total to 3,116, the highest in Southeast Asia.
The Ministry Of Health recorded a total of 50 deaths, with five reported today, Reuters reported.
Australian scientists begin tests for potential Covid-19 vaccines
Australian scientists have started testing two potential Covid-19 vaccines in "milestone" lab trials.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has cleared the vaccines, made by Oxford University and US company Inovio Pharmaceutical, for animal testing, BBC reported.
Australia's national science agency will assess if the vaccines work, and if they would be safe for humans.
Greece quarantines camp after migrants test coronavirus positive
Greece has quarantined a migrant camp after 20 asylum seekers tested positive for coronavirus, the migration ministry said on Thursday, its first such facility to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.
Tests on 63 people were conducted after a 19-year-old female migrant who gave birth in hospital in Athens was found infected, becoming the first recorded case among thousands of asylum seekers living in overcrowded camps across Greece, Reuters reported.
None of the confirmed cases showed any symptoms, the ministry said, adding that it was continuing its tests.
Thailand to announce nationwide curfew starting Friday
Thailand is to announce a nationwide curfew between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. starting Friday to try to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said in a statement today.
The curfew will have some exceptions, including for the transport of medical supplies, movement of people into quarantine, patients and travel of medical personnel, according to the statement shown to reporters, Reuters reported.
"The prime minister will make the announcement this evening on national television around 6 p.m.," deputy spokeswoman deputy spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek told Reuters when reached by telephone.
China logs fewer coronavirus infections but limits some movement
China, where the coronavirus outbreak first erupted in December, logged fewer new infections on Thursday, but measures restricting movement across the country have tightened in some places due to fear of imported cases.
China had 35 new cases of the disease on April 1, all of which were imported, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Russia's coronavirus cases jump to more than 3,500 in record daily rise
Russia’s coronavirus case tally jumped to 3,548 on Thursday, a record daily increase of 771, Russia’s crisis response centre said.
Cases have been recorded in 76 of Russia’s more than 80 regions, but Moscow remains the epicentre of the outbreak with 595 cases, the centre said. Thirty people have died across the country, it said, Reuters reported.
France passes 4,000 coronavirus deaths
France became the fourth country to pass the 4,000 coronavirus deaths threshold on Wednesday, after Italy, Spain and the United States, as the government scrambles to stay ahead of the curve regarding ventilator-equipped beds that are quickly filling up.
French health authorities reported 509 new deaths from the disease, taking the total to 4,032. But, after speeding up the previous two days, the rate of increase of deaths has decelerated in France, which is now in its third week of lockdown to try to slow the spread of the virus, Reuters reported.
Cyprus extends flight ban for another two weeks
Cyprus extended a ban on commercial air links with 28 countries for another two weeks on Thursday to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The ban, introduced on March 21 for a 14 day period, would be in effect for a further 14 days, Cypriot transport minister Yiannis Karousos said in a tweet. He said the decision was dictated by the situation in Cyprus, and the "dramatic" situation in other European states, Reuters reported.
Cyprus has recorded 320 coronavirus cases and nine deaths. The country has imposed tough restrictions on movement, including a night curfew and allowing people to leave their homes only once a day with a special permit.
Panama reports 1,317 coronavirus cases, 32 deaths
Panama's health ministry reported on Wednesday 1,317 coronavirus cases, an increase of 136 cases, and 32 deaths in the Central American country, Reuters reported.
Thailand reports 104 new coronavirus cases, three new deaths
Thailand reported 104 new coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 1,875 cases, a spokesman for the government’s Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration said on Thursday.
There were three new deaths in the country, bringing the total fatalities to 15 deaths, spokesman Taweesin Wisanuyothin said, Reuters reported.
The three new deaths, all Thai men, included a 57-year old who had pre-existing conditions of diabetes and high blood pressure.
The second new fatality was a 77-year-old who had come into contact with an infected patient, and the third case was a 55-year-old driver at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Europe's coronavirus death toll tops 30,000
The coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 30,000 lives in Europe alone, a global tally showed on Wednesday.
Italy and Spain bore the brunt of the crisis, accounting for three in every four deaths on the continent, as the grim tally hit another milestone even though half of the planet’s population is already under some form of lockdown in a battle to halt contagion, AFP reported.
Spain reported a record 864 deaths in 24 hours, pushing the country’s number of fatalities past 9,000.
The toll is only dwarfed by Italy’s, where the virus has killed nearly 12,500 people
COVID-19 cases and deaths rising, debt relief needed for poorest nations: WHO
The head of the World Health Organization voiced deep concern on Wednesday about the rapid escalation and global spread of COVID-19 cases from the new coronavirus, which has now reached 205 countries and territories.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that his agency, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund backed debt relief to help developing countries cope with the pandemic's social and economic consequences, Reuters reported.
Number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rises to 73,522
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen to 73,522 while 872 people have died of the disease, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed today.
Cases rose by 6,156 compared with the previous day while the death toll climbed by 140, Reuters reported.
Global virus cases near million as death toll reaches 47,232
A six-week-old baby died of COVID-19 and global agencies warned of food shortages as coronavirus infections around the world neared one million Wednesday.
Governments expanded lockdowns to affect about half of the planet, with funeral parties banned in the Democratic Republic of Congo, New York locking up its famed street basketball courts and hard-hit Italy extending its economically crippling lockdown until April 13.
More than 900,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and 47,232 have died since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, according to an AFP tally.
Pandemic could shrink global economy almost 1% in 2020: UN
The global economy could shrink almost 1% this year due to the new coronavirus, a sharp reversal from the pre-pandemic forecast of 2.5% growth, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs warned in a report that the decline could be even deeper if restrictions on economic activities extend into the third quarter of the year and if fiscal stimulus efforts don't support income and consumer spending, AP reported.
By comparison, it said, the world economy contracted 1.7% during the global financial crisis in 2009.
US records youngest casualty as virus deaths pass 5,000
A six-week-old baby died of COVID-19 as the US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped 5,000 late Wednesday, according to a running tally from Johns Hopkins University.
At about 0235 GMT Thursday, 5,116 people had died, the tally showed, on the same day the United States set a one-day record of 884 people killed in 24 hours, AFP reported.
Italy extends lockdown as toll passes 13,000
Italy on Wednesday extended its economically-crippling lockdown until April 13 to help stem coronavirus infections that have claimed 13,115 lives.
"If we start loosening our measures now, all our efforts will have been in vain," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told the nation in a national televised address, AFP reported.
The extension had been expected. Italy's health minister said on Monday that businesses across the nation of 60 million would remained shuttered and public gatherings banned until at least April 12.
Virus to plunge 8mn into poverty in Arab world: UN
The coronavirus pandemic will plunge 8.3 million people in the Arab region into poverty, the United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia said on Wednesday.
ESCWA also warned that two million people could become undernourished as a result, AFP reported.
"With today's estimates, a total of 101.4 million people in the region would be classified as poor, and 52 million as undernourished," the UN agency said.
UK records over 500 daily coronavirus deaths for first time
Britain reported 563 daily coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the first time the national toll has exceeded 500, bringing the total fatalities to 2,352, according to official figures.
“As of 5pm (1600 GMT) on 31 March, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,352 have sadly died,” the health ministry said on its official Twitter page.
Some 29,474 people have now tested positive, an increase of 4,324 over the previous day, it added.
Britain locked down last week in an attempt to combat the virus, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself has tested positive, warned that it would “get worse before it gets better”.
Spain's coronavirus cases top 100,000 as masks, sanitiser flown in
Two planes packed with protective equipment arrived to restock Spain's overloaded public health system on Wednesday as its confirmed coronavirus cases rose beyond 100,000 and it recorded its biggest one-day death toll from the outbreak.
Barring Italy, the virus has killed more people in Spain than anywhere else, triggering a lockdown that has brought economic activity to a virtual standstill. A survey showed Spain's manufacturing sector is heading for a slump after shrinking in March at its steepest pace since 2013, Reuters reported.
A record 864 fatalities overnight took the country's overall toll to 9,053 while total infections rose to 102,136, health officials said, adding that the percentage increase in deaths was lower than in recent days.
Brazil confirms first indigenous coronavirus case in the Amazon
An indigenous woman in a village deep in the Amazon rainforest has contracted the novel coronavirus, the first case reported among Brazil's more than 300 tribes, the Health Ministry's indigenous health service Sesai said on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old woman from the Kokama tribe tested positive for the virus in the district of Santo Antonio do Içá, near the border with Colombia some 880 km (550 miles) up the Amazon river from the state capital Manaus, Sesai said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Four cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the same district, including a Brazilian doctor who tested positive last week, raising fears that the epidemic could spread to remote and vulnerable indigenous communities with devastating effect.
The woman has not shown symptoms of COVID-19, the sometimes fatal respiratory disease caused by the virus, and she has been isolated with her family, Sesai said.
Health experts warn that the spreading virus could be lethal for Brazil's 850,000 indigenous people, who have been decimated for centuries by diseases brought by Europeans, from smallpox and malaria to the flu.