The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has soared past 1 million and fatalities have topped 50,000 as the US reported the highest daily death toll of any country so far.
Despite more than half the planet living in some form of lockdown, the virus is continuing to spread rapidly and claim lives, with the US, Spain and Britain all seeing their worst days yet.
The US now accounts for about one-quarter of all known infections around the globe. About 6,000 people have died in the US outbreak, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,100 of them on Thursday.
Photo: AP
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to cover their faces when outside and US Vice President Mike Pence said there would be a recommendation on the use of masks by the general public in the next few days.
Europe has been at the center of the crisis for weeks, but there have been signs that the epidemic could be approaching its peak there.
Spain and Britain saw record numbers of new deaths in a 24-hour period — 950 and 569 respectively.
Italy and Spain together account for almost half of the global death toll, but experts have said that the number of new infections in both countries is continuing to slow.
“The data show the curve has stabilized” and the epidemic has entered a “slowdown” phase, Spanish Minister of Health Salvador Illa said.
The virus has chiefly affected elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions, but recent cases of deaths among teenagers and even of a six-week-old have highlighted the dangers for people of all ages.
“The very notion that ‘COVID-19 only affects older people’ is factually wrong,” WHO regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Thursday.
Severe cases have been reported among teens and young adults, with some requiring intensive care and several deaths, he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to “massively increase testing” as his health minister said the aim was 100,000 tests per day within weeks.
Britain was also rushing to build field hospitals, with the government yesterday saying that it would erect two new facilities to cope with 1,500 patients.
Russian President Vladimir Putin extended paid nonworking days until the end of this month as the number of confirmed cases jumped by more than one-quarter to 3,500.
Most of the Russian population is on lockdown, while Thailand became the latest country to impose strict measures with the introduction of a curfew yesterday.
Meanwhile, the head of Germany’s disease control agency yesterday said that the number of people who die of COVID-19 is likely being undercounted.
Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute said that he believes “we have more dead than are officially being reported.”
It was not immediately clear whether Wieler was suggesting that deaths are being undercounted only in Germany, or worldwide, and reporters were unable to ask follow-up questions during his online news conference.
One reason that deaths might be higher than thought is that by the time autopsies are performed the virus cannot be detected, Wieler said.
Additional reporting by AP
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