Brazil records 26K cases in a day; Moscow’s death toll is 4K

Brazil reported a daily record of 26,417 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, according to the health ministry, bringing its total tally to 438,238, second only to the United States in confirmed cases. Brazil’s death toll rose 1,156 from a day earlier to 26,754 confirmed fatalities from the Covid-19 respiratory disease, just shy of a record 1,188 deaths registered on May 21.

The overall number of global cases has topped 5.8 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 360,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 5,808,672, while the death toll increased to 360,289, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

Russia reported a record increase of 232 coronavirus deaths on Friday, taking it to a total of 4,374 deaths and 387,623 cases. Moscow authorities meanwhile released mortality figures to dispel allegations they were under-reporting deaths to play down the scale of the crisis.

Russian authorities said numbers of deaths in the capital were far lower than those in New York and London, attributing the difference to mass testing. Under the revised count, the city’s death rate from the virus was between 1.4% and 2.8%.

Moscow is due to ease its lockdown on Monday.

The urgency was underlined by ballooning death tolls in South America, increasingly the new focus of the pandemic that first emerged in China late last year before spreading around the world.

The economic carnage continues, with eurozone inflation slumping in May as Europe is predicted to enter its sharpest ever recession, the number of people filing unemployment claims in the US reaching 40 million, and Brazil shedding five million jobs.

Seeking to stem the bleeding, Europe has been carefully moving ahead with the lifting of restrictions, with France set to reopen bars, restaurants and museums next week and Britain sending children back to school over the next two weeks.

Elsewhere in Europe, Spaniards were revisiting old joys as life gets back on track — with people seen belting out tunes from the classic movie “Grease” at a 1950s-themed drive-in theatre in Madrid.

But many countries that have seen success in curbing the virus are now on alert for a second wave of infections, particularly in Asia. South Korea — held up as a global model in how to stop the virus — has reimposed some social distancing rules after a series of new clusters emerged, many in the capital Seoul.

Numbers of children in Seoul schools will be cut back while museums, parks and art galleries were closed again from Friday for two weeks.