The global death toll in the COVID-19 pandemic yesterday soared past the grim 200,000 milestone as the WHO warned against “immunity passports” for recovered patients, seen as a possible tool for countries preparing to reopen their economies.
The WHO opposes such “passports,” because recovery from the virus might not protect a person from reinfection.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the UN health body said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
Even as governments from Sri Lanka to Belgium to the US began moving in the direction of partial reopening, the pandemic still had nearly half of humanity under some form of lockdown or confinement.
Total cases around the world rose to 2.86 million and deaths mounted past 203,000, doubling since April 10.
Europe, the hardest-hit region, has recorded 122,171 coronavirus deaths.
The US toll rose to 53,934 deaths. The number of cases in the US jumped by more than 46,000 to 939,249 since Friday.
In Italy, the number of COVID-19 fatalities rose to 26,384; Spain 22,902, France 22,648 and the UK 20,381.
The WHO warned on Saturday that people who test positive and survive infection cannot be certain they would not be hit again by the coronavirus.
The warning came as some governments study measures, such as “immunity passports,” for those who have recovered as one way to get people back to work after weeks of economic shutdown.
People holding such a “passport” might tend to ignore public health advice, such as continuing to wear masks, assuming they are not a danger to themselves or others, the WHO said.
Despite Saturday’s grim milestone, the daily toll in Western countries appeared to be leveling off and even falling, a sign hopeful epidemiologists had been looking for.
Likewise, new reported cases appear to have plateaued at about 80,000 a day.
Shrieks of joy rang out yesterday in the streets of Spain as children were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks.
Spaniards would be allowed out for exercise and to take walks starting next weekend, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday.
The Spanish government would tomorrow unveil its broader coronavirus exit plan that would likely be put into action in the second half of next month, he said.
However, in many countries there were worries of a second surge after lockdown restrictions are eased, possibly also coinciding with a new flu season.
In hard-hit Iran, health officials on Saturday raised fears of a “fresh outbreak” with another 76 fatalities declared, bringing the country’s official death toll to 5,650.
In China, the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began, now has no remaining cases in its hospitals, a health official told reporters yesterday.
“The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country,” Chinese National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng (米鋒) said at a briefing.
The city had reported 46,452 cases, 56 percent of the national total. It saw 3,869 fatalities, or 84 percent of China’s total.
Tokyo registered 72 new coronavirus cases, Kyodo news agency reported, the lowest daily tally since April 1.
The latest figures brought the total coronavirus infections in Japan’s capital to more than 3,900 cases, according to Tokyo Metropolitan Government statistics.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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