More than 2.9 million dead, 139 million infected with COVID-19 worldwide

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 2,987,891 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT (6 p.m. Philippine time) on Friday. 

At least 139,008,120 cases of coronavirus have been registered. 

The vast majority have recovered, though some have continued to experience symptoms weeks or even months later. 

These figures are based on daily tolls provided by health authorities in each country and exclude later re-evaluations by statistical organizations, as has happened in Russia, Spain and Britain. 

On Thursday, 13,646 new deaths and 809,849 new cases were recorded worldwide. 

Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Brazil with 3,560 new deaths, followed by India with 1,185 and United States with 974. 

The United States is the worst-affected country with 565,289 deaths from 31,495,652 cases. 

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 365,444 deaths from 13,746,681 cases, Mexico with 211,213 deaths from 2,295,435 cases, India with 174,308 deaths from 14,291,917 cases, and Britain with 127,191 deaths from 4,380,976 cases. 

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Czech Republic with 264 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Hungary with 254, Bosnia-Herzegovina 235, Montenegro 225 and Bulgaria 214.

Europe overall has 1,016,003 deaths from 47,440,536 cases, Latin America and the Caribbean 852,118 deaths from 26,812,010 infections, and the United States and Canada 588,779 deaths from 32,589,214 cases. 

Asia has reported 292,169 deaths from 20,566,289 cases, the Middle East 120,787 deaths from 7,161,469 cases, Africa 117,015 deaths from 4,397,613 cases, and Oceania 1,020 deaths from 40,992 cases. 

Since the start of the pandemic, the number of tests conducted has greatly increased while testing and reporting techniques have improved, leading to a rise in reported cases. 

However, the number of diagnosed cases is only a part of the real total number of infections as a significant number of less serious or asymptomatic cases always remain undetected. 

As a result of corrections by national authorities or late publication of data, the figures updated over the past 24 hours may not correspond exactly to the previous day's tallies. 

Agence France-Presse

What you need to know about the COVID-19 pandemic right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Asian countries scramble for vaccine supplies

Several Asian countries scrambled to find alternative sources for COVID-19 inoculations on Tuesday after export restrictions by manufacturer India left a World Health Organization-backed global vaccine-sharing programme short of supplies.

South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines are among countries to be hit by shipment delays to vaccines they have been promised under the COVAX program, which was created mainly to ensure supplies for poorer countries.

India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, put a temporary hold on exports of AstraZeneca's vaccine being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, as officials focus on meeting rising domestic demand.

UK wants to vaccinate all adults before sharing shots

Britain will focus on vaccinating the whole of its adult population before it can provide any surplus shots to other countries such as Ireland, British business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Tuesday.

More than 30 million Britons have received their first shots in the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe, with the aim of offering shots to all adults by the end of July.

However, Britain has found itself involved in a public spat with the European Union, where the vaccination program has been much slower, over the supply of doses.

Pfizer, Moderna vaccines highly effective after first dose

COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer with BioNTech and by Moderna reduced risk of infection by 80% two weeks or more after the first of two shots, according to data from a real-world U.S. study released on Monday.

The risk of infection fell 90% by two weeks after the second shot, the study of nearly 4,000 U.S. healthcare personnel and first responders found.

The results validate earlier studies that had indicated the vaccines begin to work soon after a first dose, and confirm that they also prevent asymptomatic infections.

Queensland warns of more cases

Australia's Queensland state warned on Tuesday that more cases of COVID-19 were expected to emerge as authorities scrambled to contain an outbreak linked to the virulent UK variant, throwing Easter travel plans into disarray.

Officials reported eight new locally acquired cases on Tuesday, taking the total in the latest outbreak to 15 so far. All of the cases were linked to two distinct virus clusters, one related to a doctor and the second to a nurse.

Brisbane, the state capital, has been placed under a three-day lockdown until Thursday, requiring more than 2 million city residents to stay home except for essential work, healthcare, grocery shopping or exercise.

Vietnam sentences flight attendant for spreading virus

A court in Vietnam handed a two-year suspended jail term to a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant on Tuesday after finding him guilty of breaking quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, police said.

Duong Tan Hau, 29, was convicted of "spreading dangerous infectious diseases" at the one-day trial at the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnam has been praised for its efforts to contain the virus through mass testing and tracing and strict centralized quarantining. It has recorded fewer than 2,600 COVID-19 infections and only 35 deaths due to the disease.

-reuters-

Brazil passes Italy and Spain in confirmed coronavirus cases

BRASILIA - Brazil's confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose on Saturday past those of Spain and Italy, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic, making Brazil's outbreak the fourth largest in the world, according to official figures.

Brazil's Health Ministry registered 14,919 new confirmed cases in the prior 24 hours, taking the total to 233,142, behind the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. Brazil has done just a fraction of the testing seen in those three countries.

The global distinction is likely to pile pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his second health minister in a month on Friday as he defies public health experts and calls for widespread use of unproven drugs.

Bolsonaro has been fiercely critical of the orders by many of Brazil's state governors for strict social isolation and quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, including the closure of schools, shops and restaurants.

Bolsonaro argues that the toll on the economy is becoming unbearable and businesses must be allowed to reopen as soon as possible. The government now expects Brazil will post its biggest annual economic contraction this year since records began over a century ago.

Brazil's vice president, Hamilton Mourao, underwent a COVID-19 test and was placed in isolation at his official residence on Saturday, after a public servant who had been near him last week tested positive.

Mourao, 66, will not fulfill official duties on Monday, when the results are expected. Bolsonaro has undergone several coronavirus tests after ministers and other close aides tested positive.

Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official labs by the beginning of the week, according to the Health Ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line.

By contrast, Italy and Spain have each run some 1.9 million official diagnostic tests for the virus.

Brazil's Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 816 new deaths related to the virus, bringing the total to 15,633. 

(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca, Lisandra Paraguassu and Jamie McGeever; Editing by Brad Haynes, Daniel Wallis and Leslie Adler)

-reuters-

Iran reports 122 new virus deaths, raising total to 4,232

Iran on Friday announced another 122 deaths from the novel coronavirus, taking the overall toll in the Middle East's worst-hit country to 4,232.

The health ministry said 1,972 people tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in the past 24 hours, putting the total at 68,192.

"In the last 24 hours, we have unfortunately seen an increase in cases of disease in perhaps five to eight tourist provinces, including Tehran," spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a televised news conference.

The announcement comes a day before Iran is scheduled to reopen "low-risk" businesses in a move aimed at protecting its sanctions-hit economy.

Iran announced its first coronavirus cases on February 19.

There has been speculation abroad that the real number of deaths and infections in the country could be higher.

In response to the health crisis, Iran shut schools and universities as well as cinemas, stadiums and revered Shiite Muslim shrines.

It also warned people to refrain from travel for the Persian New Year holidays that ended last week.

Agence France-Presse

World Bank approves $500 million loan for Philippines to fight COVID-19

MANILA -- The World Bank said Friday it approved a $500 million (P25.2 billion) loan to the Philippines to help the Southeast Asian nation fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The financing is part of the Washington-based lender's $14-billion fast-track package to help nations deal with the disease that has killed tens of thousands around the world.

"The World Bank is committed to supporting efforts to strengthen the Philippines’ capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters as well as health and economic shocks like COVID-19," said Achim Fock, World Bank Acting Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

"Natural disasters and pandemics disproportionately hurt poor families and communities. Enhancing risk management and the capacity to address these challenges can help ensure that the Philippines can sustain progress in poverty reduction," he said.

The $500 million loan is part of a broader package that aims to help the Philippines build disaster resilience, the World Bank said.

As of Thursday, the Philippines confirmed 4,076 COVID-19 cases including 203 deaths and 124 recoveries. Luzon, home to half of its 100 million population, is on lockdown until April 30 to fight the spread of the disease.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

World faces worst crisis since Great Depression: IMF chief

WASHINGTON -- The global coronavirus pandemic has inflicted an economic crisis unlike any in the past century and will require a massive response to ensure recovery, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday.

The warnings about the damage inflicted by the virus already were stark, but Georgieva said the world should brace for "the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression."

With nearly 89,000 deaths in 192 countries and territories and the number of cases now surpassing 1.5 million worldwide, much of the global economy has been shut down to contain the spread of the virus.

The International Monetary Fund expects "global growth will turn sharply negative in 2020," with 170 of the fund's 180 members experiencing a decline in per capita income, Georgieva said.

Just a few months ago, the fund was expecting 160 countries to see rising per capita income, she said in a speech previewing next week's spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank, which will be held virtually due to the restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19.

'IT COULD GET WORSE'

Even in the best-case scenario, the IMF expects only a "partial recovery" next year, assuming the virus fades later in 2020, allowing normal business to resume as the lockdowns imposed to contain its spread are lifted.

But she added this ominous caution: "It could get worse."

There is "tremendous uncertainty around the outlook" and the duration of the pandemic, Georgieva said.

The IMF will release its latest World Economic Outlook on Tuesday, with grim forecasts for its members this year and next. In January, the IMF projected global growth of 3.3 percent this year and 3.4 percent in 2021.

But that was a different world.

The US economy has purged 17 million jobs since mid-March, with the latest weekly data issued Thursday showing 6.6 million workers filed for unemployment benefits, and economists projecting a double-digit jobless rate this month.

The World Bank said Thursday the pandemic might cause the first recession in Africa in 25 years.

Researchers at the Institute for International Finance (IIF), a global banking association, expect a 2.8 percent plunge in global GDP, compared to a decline of 2.1 percent in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

That is a sharp reversal from October, when the IIF predicted 2.6 percent growth.

Recovery depends on decisive actions now, Georgieva said. The IMF has $1 trillion in lending capacity and is responding to unprecedented calls from 90 countries for emergency financing.

SEND MORE LIFELINES

Countries already have taken steps worth a combined $8 trillion, but Georgieva urged governments to do more.

"Lifelines for households and businesses are imperative" to "avoid a scarring of the economy that would make the recovery so much more difficult."

The IMF board approved a doubling of emergency lending facilities that will provide about $100 billion, and is moving ahead with debt relief for the poorest countries and also help for countries with unsustainable debt levels.

"The bleak outlook applies to advanced and developing economies alike. This crisis knows no boundaries. Everybody hurts," Georgieva said.

She noted that about $100 billion in investments already had fled emerging markets -- more than three times the capital exodus seen in the 2008 global financial crisis.

US officials have scrambled to apply a tourniquet to stem the bleeding of jobs in the world's largest economy and keep the financial system from freezing up.

The Federal Reserve rolled out another series of lending programs Thursday totaling $2.3 trillion to help small and medium businesses as well as state and local governments facing cash shortages.

The US is moving "with alarming speed" from unemployment near a 50-year low, to a "very high" rate, Fed chair Jerome Powell said in a speech Thursday.

And like Georgieva, he indicated the US government will have to provide more direct support, since the Fed is limited to lending to solvent entities.

"All of us are affected, but the burdens are falling most heavily on those least able to carry them," Powell said.

But he also tried to offer some reassurance, saying the US economic rebound could be "robust."

Agence France-Presse

US pharmacies authorized to test for coronavirus

WASHINGTON- The US authorized pharmacies on Wednesday to carry out tests for the coronavirus, including newly developed antibody tests that detect whether a person who has recovered from illness had COVID-19.

Health secretary Alex Azar, announced that all tests approved by regulators could be carried out by pharmacies as the country seeks to ramp up its testing efforts.

"The Trump Administration is pleased to give pharmacists the chance to play a bigger role in the COVID-19 response, alongside all of America's heroic healthcare workers," he said.

A nasal swab test can detect whether a person currently has the coronavirus.

After they have recovered, a test that looks at whether their body developed antibodies that fought off the virus and can be used -- even if the person never showed symptoms.

There are different kinds of antibody tests and they can't yet tell whether a person has sufficient antibodies to be protected against future infection.

A Chinese study posted this week, but not yet peer-reviewed, showed that some former patients had relatively low levels of antibodies in the blood.

In Washington on Wednesday, a private medical center announced that it was offering a 15-minute serology test, at a cost of $290.

Agence France-Presse

UN health worker dies of Ebola in Germany

BERLIN - A UN health worker has died of Ebola in Germany as the international community prepared to hold talks on the crisis Tuesday.

The death of the 56-year-old Sudanese man, who arrived in Germany from Liberia last week for treatment, highlighted the global struggle against what officials have termed the worst health crisis of modern times.

The United Nations was due to hold talks on the spread of the hemorrhagic virus, a day after US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the international anti-Ebola drive to be stepped up.

The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people this year, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to brand it "the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times".

At least two cases of contamination have been reported beyond west Africa, in the US and Europe.

The German clinic in the eastern city of Leipzig, one of three in the country to have treated Ebola patients, said the man had died during the night "despite intensive medical care and the best efforts by medical staff".

A WHO spokesman in Geneva said he was a UN volunteer.

German health officials said last Thursday he was Sudanese.

The UN announced the following day that it had quarantined 41 personnel from its Liberia mission, including 20 soldiers.

Germany has also treated two other Ebola patients infected in Sierra Leone -- a Senegalese expert who was treated in Hamburg and released on October 4, and a Ugandan doctor now being treated in Frankfurt.

'No-one taking care of us'

After measures were introduced in the US and Canada, Britain began screening for Ebola at Heathrow Airport, the first of a number of London airports and Eurostar rail hubs where travellers from the worst-hit countries of west Africa will be questioned and have their temperature tested.

Health workers in Liberia meanwhile pressed on with a strike demanding danger money to treat Ebola patients.

Obama and Ban called Tuesday for "more robust commitments and rapid delivery of assistance by the international community", the White House said in a statement.

Obama and French President Francois Hollande also issued a joint call for "stepped-up" global efforts to combat the disease.

In the face of panic that was "spreading faster than the virus", the WHO issued a stark warning over the crisis.

"I have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries," said WHO chief Margaret Chan in a statement delivered on her behalf at a conference in Manila.

Ninety-five Liberian health workers have died so far in the epidemic, and their surviving colleagues want pay commensurate to the acute risk of dealing with Ebola, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids and for which there is no vaccine or widely available treatment.

In the Liberian capital Monrovia, a hospital patient quoted on local radio described scenes of desolation, with the sick deserted by striking staffers.

"We are at the Ebola Treatment Unit and no-one is taking care of us," the unnamed man said.

"Last night several patients died. Those who can walk are trying to escape by climbing over the fence."

Journalists have been banned from Liberia's Ebola clinics, making the situation there difficult to ascertain.

US must 'rethink' approach

Both cases of contamination reported so far outside Africa -- in Spain last week and now in the United States -- have involved health workers who fell ill despite stringent safety protocols surrounding Ebola.

US health authorities said the United States must "rethink" its approach to Ebola after a female nurse in Texas contracted the virus, in the first case of contamination on US soil.

Health authorities said the woman -- identified by local media as 26-year-old Nina Pham -- tested positive after caring for a Liberian Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who died on Wednesday.

The nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas is in isolation and said to be in a stable condition.

Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato was due to appear before parliament to face questions over the infection of the nurse, Teresa Romero, who caught the Ebola virus in a Madrid hospital after caring for two missionaries with Ebola.

She remains in a "very serious condition", according to a crisis cell set up after the case.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com