Worldwide COVID-19 toll tops 216,000; cases at 3.1 m.
Beijing inches back to normal • US feels economic pain • Spain eases toward lockdown lift
More than 3.11 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 216,667 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. Countries continued to plan for an exit from coronavirus lockdowns on Wednesday.
In one of the clearest signs yet of Beijing returning to a normal of sorts after months of near standstill, China announced on Wednesday new dates for its annual parliament meeting, known as the National People’s Congress.
Delegations from far-flung regions attend the meeting, now scheduled to start on May 22 after being postponed from March 5.
Beijing also plans to lift the two-week quarantine required for domestic travelers, unless they come from high-risk areas, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
FRANCE SAID on Tuesday it would adopt aggressive COVID-19 testing from May 11 so it can slowly unwind its lockdown and avoid further economic meltdown.
It is not alone: Australia plans to expand testing as well, with the help of 10 million kits secured from China by Fortescue Metals Group founder Andrew Forrest, who sold them to the government at the cost price of A$3.20 ($2.09) each.
Twenty-six million people in the US have filed for unemployment in just a month, with millions more likely waiting in electronic queues at overburdened state unemployment systems.
Gross domestic product numbers released on Wednesday will probably also show a large hit from the virus-fighting efforts that began in midMarch. Forecasters expect anywhere from $2 trillion to $5 trillion of output to be wiped out by year’s end.
While such a hit to the world’s largest economy is largely unparalleled, optimists point out that, with overall output at nearly $22 trillion, that still leaves a lot on the table.
The US has reported more than a million coronavirus infections only because of its testing, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, hailing the effort as being “much better than any other country in the world.”
The Twitter comments came amid warnings from state public health officials that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.
“The only reason the US has reported one million cases of coronavirus is that our testing is sooo much better than any other country in the world,” Trump said on Twitter.
“Other countries are way behind us in testing, and therefore show far fewer cases.”
SPAIN RECORDED 325 deaths from the novel coronavirus overnight, up from 301 reported the previous day, but health officials said the epidemic was evolving favorably as the country prepares for a gradual easing of its lockdown starting next week.
The overall death toll from the virus rose by 453 to 24,275, the health ministry said, adding that the additional cases were from the previous days in the region of Galicia.
The number of diagnosed cases rose by 2,144 from Tuesday to 212,917, the world’s second-highest tally after the US, the ministry said.
“The evolution we are seeing is still very favorable and is in line with what we expected,” health emergency coordinator Fernando Simon told a news briefing on Wednesday.
The daily number of deaths has come down sharply from the record 950 seen in early April.
He said the so-called ‘R’ rate – the average number of infections that one person with the virus causes - stood at below 1 in almost all areas of the country.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced late on Tuesday a four-phase plan to lift one of the toughest coronavirus lockdowns in Europe that would culminate in a return to normality by the end of June. (Reuters)