The US and Britain yesterday braced for what could be one of their bleakest weeks in memory as the human and financial toll of the COVID-19 outbreak mounted.
However, new deaths and infections appeared to be slowing in Italy, Spain and France, suggesting that lockdowns and social distancing are working.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was infected last month, was hospitalized in what his office described as a precaution because of persistent symptoms.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Pippa Fowles / Downing Street
The 55-year-old Johnson, who had a fever for days, is the first known head of government to fall ill with the disease.
“I’m in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe,” he tweeted yesterday.
World markets rose after much of Europe saw glimmers of hope — deaths and new infections appeared to be slowing in much of the three hardest-hit countries, as well as in the Netherlands and Germany.
Photo: AFP
However, leaders cautioned that any gains could easily be reversed if people did not continue to adhere to strict social distancing measures and national lockdowns.
More than 9,600 people have died of the virus in the US, and it leads the world in confirmed infections at more than 337,970.
In New York City, the US epicenter of the pandemic, daily confirmed deaths dropped slightly, along with intensive care admissions and the number of patients who needed breathing tubes, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that it was “too early to tell” whether the good news would hold.
A report from a federal watchdog agency found that three out of four US hospitals surveyed are already treating patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.
Italy still has, by far, the world’s highest death toll — almost 16,000 — but the pressure on northern Italy’s intensive care units has eased so much that Lombardy is no longer airlifting patients to other regions.
In Spain, deaths and new infections dropped again yesterday. The health ministry reported 637 new deaths, the lowest toll in 13 days, for a total of more than 13,000 dead. New recorded infections were also the lowest in two weeks.
Patients awaiting treatment in Madrid-area emergency rooms went down to 390 cases, one-10th of the arrivals last week, the regional government said.
Yet Britain’s outbreak was headed in the opposite direction as it reported more than 600 deaths on Sunday, surpassing Italy’s daily increase for the second day in a row.
Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and over 70,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally. The true numbers are certainly much higher, because of limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments.
Global equity markets strongly rebounded yesterday as some of the world’s worst-hit countries reported falling death rates.
“European markets are trading higher because investors are shrugging off the pessimism,” AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam said. “They are focused on more optimistic things: the slowing death rate caused by coronavirus. Italy, Spain, France, and Germany have all seen declining numbers.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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