GLOBAL TOLL CROSSES 5,000
OVER 5,000 DEAD Global death toll keeps rising; China and US engage in war of words over origin of virus; Eiffel Tower, schools across Europe closed
PARIS/GENEVA: The death toll from Covid-19 jumped over 5,000 as the number of cases neared 140,000 globally. The WHO said Europe was now the “epicentre” of the outbreak as Italy recorded its highest oneday death toll yet.
WASHINGTON/BEIJING/LONDON:The death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic shot past 5,000 on Friday as more top names in politics, bureaucracy and diplomacy were affected. More than 3,176 people died in mainland China, followed by at least 1,016 in Italy and 514 in Iran - countries with the highest number of deaths.
Since Covid-19 was first detected in December, more than 134,300 people have been infected in 122 countries and territories.
France, Belgium and Portugal joined a list of countries closing schools, borders and popular landmarks - such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris - as the pandemic prompted mass shutdowns.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding a Chinese official’s claim about America’s role in the crisis has sparked a worldwide debate. The foreign ministry official pushed a conspiracy theory on Thursday night that the US army had a role in spreading the coronavirus. “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, tweeted on Friday. “Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
He followed up with a tweet urging his followers to share an article arguing that the virus originated in the US. It was posted on a website promoting conspiracy theories, including articles lambasting the “Vaccine Deep State”.
On Friday in Beijing, Geng Shuang, another spokesman for the foreign ministry, said “international society, including the US, has different opinions about the source of the virus. But China always believes that this is a matter of science which requires professional and scientific assessment”. Geng was asked if the tweets by his colleague represented China’s official view.
“I think you may want to ask certain senior US officials - did they speak on behalf of the US government when they attacked and smeared China recently?,” he said in response to one question.
“What I said represents the Chinese government’s attitude,” he said, in response to another.
Earlier this month, he became the first official in China to suggest that the virus didn’t originate there. Asked about the claim, Geng said this week “the origin of the virus can only be determined by science” and expressed hope the issue would not be used to “stigmatise” any country.
The US state department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. US President Donald Trump has sought to blame China for the outbreak. Recently, he called the disease a “foreign virus”.