With 427 new deaths, Italy toll passes China
Sub-saharan Africa records its first Covid-19 death; Germany prepares to deploy military
ROME/BRUSSELS: Italy on Thursday overtook China’s coronavirus death total and braced for an extended lockdown that could see the economy suffer its biggest shock since World War 2.
The Mediterranean country’s toll reached 3,405 after it recorded 427 new deaths on Wednesday.
China has officially reported 3,245 deaths since registering the first case at the end of last year.
The number of new Covid-19 cases is yet to plateau despite the Italian government’s best efforts.
Army trucks delivered new coffins on Thursday to a cemetery in the northern Italian city of Bergamo that suddenly finds itself at the global heart of the unfolding disaster. Burials were taking place 30 minutes apart to avoid contagion through crowds.
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 235,000 people and killed over 9,350. Some 84,000 have recovered so far.
UN and Italian health authorities have cited a variety of reasons for Italy’s high toll, key among them its large elderly population, who are particularly susceptible to developing serious complications from the virus. Italy has the world’s second oldest population after Japan’s and the vast majority of Italy’s dead 87% - were over age 70.
In addition, virtually all of Italy’s dead had one or more underlying medical condition, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension or renal insufficiency.
In Germany, the military is making preparations to help tackle the crisis should other civil servants become overwhelmed with the outbreak, defence minister Annegret Kramp-karrenbauer said on Thursday.
“We are preparing for a worstcase scenario where a very large number of people will become infected and we have the human resources to help,” she said.
The number of confirmed cases in Germany jumped by almost a third on Thursday to reach 11,000, with 20 known deaths to date.
Russia, meanwhile, has reported its first coronavirus death, a 79-year-old woman who died in a hospital in Moscow. Russia has registered 147 cases.
Southeast Asian countries reported big jumps in cases as returnees from a religious ceremony in Malaysia push the totals up. Indonesia reported 82 new cases for a total of 309. The total includes 25 deaths. Malaysia still leads the region with 900 cases.
Sub-saharan Africa has recorded its first Covid-19 death, a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso, as the head of the WHO urged the continent to “prepare for the worst”. “Africa should wake up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva.
Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator for the bloc’s future relationship with Britain after Brexit, has been infected.
In Brazil, two cabinet ministers and the head of the Brazilian Senate said on Wednesday they had tested positive.
PHASE III:
Large-scale trials to evaluate efficacy under natural disease conditions. If successful, maker applies to regulatory authorities for licence to market vaccine