Infections worldwide set tohitthehalf-millionmark
WORLDWIDE coronavirus infections are set to top half a million people as Spain’s death toll climbs to more than 4,000.
Italy and the United States appear poised to surpass China, where the pandemic began, while healthcare systems in Europe and New York buckle under the weight of caring for seriously ill victims of Covid-19.
Spain has become the country in Europe where the outbreak is spreading the fastest. Spain’s Health Ministry reported 8,578 new infections and 655 deaths yesterday, bringing the total cases to 56,188 and more than 4,000 fatalities — second only to Italy’s death toll of 7,503.
Faced with the exponential spread of the pandemic, the US Senate has passed a $2.2tn (£1.83tn) economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and healthcare systems.
Millions of Americans hoped the measure would give them a lifeline as they lost jobs, income and childcare due to the social distancing rules needed to slow the spread of the virus.
At least 1.5bn people are now under severe travel restrictions. But the head of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, criticised world leaders for wasting time in the fight against the virus that has already killed more than 21,000 people, left millions out of work and ravaged the world economy.
He said: “The time to act was actually more than a month ago or two months ago. We squandered the first window of opportunity ... this is a second opportunity, which we should not squander and do everything to suppress and control this virus.”
In the United States, where virus deaths passed 1,050 and some 70,000 people were infected, a fierce political battle raged between those demanding urgent action for a months-long siege against the pandemic, like New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and President Donald Trump.
Mr Trump has expressed hope churches could return to normal by Easter, only 16 days away, and grumbled that “our country wasn’t built to be shut down” — concerned the outbreak’s devastating effects on financial markets and employment will harm his re-election bid.