Global virus deaths near 400,000
Opec continues to throttle oil output to give prices time to recover
The global death toll from the coronavirus neared 400,000 yesterday with fatalities accelerating in Latin America, as oilproducing countries agreed to extend output cuts to offset a collapse in prices caused by the pandemic.
Brazil now has the world’s third-highest death toll from the virus, but President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to leave the World Health Organisation (WHO) over “ideological bias”, following the US’s example.
He is among those arguing that the economic damage lockdowns are causing is worse than the virus itself — and the oil industry has been hit particularly hard.
Opec agreed on Saturday to extend an April deal to cut production until next month, aiming to foster a recovery in oil prices after they were pummelled by slumps in demand caused by virus restrictions.
Governments are also increasingly focused on repairing the economic damage, and even hard-hit European countries are opening borders and allowing people to return to work.
Gloomy data from Asia’s two largest economies highlighted the long road to recovery.
China reported a plunge in foreign trade on the back of subdued consumer demand and weakness in key overseas markets.
Analysts say a deeper downturn in exports is looming for the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, where the virus first emerged in late 2019.
Factories in India are also struggling to restart because of labour shortages, as the country slowly emerges from a strict lockdown that sent millions of migrant labourers back to farflung home villages.
The worst health crisis in more than a century has infected nearly 6.9-million globally, and forced tens of millions out of work just in the US, the hardest-hit nation.
But President Donald Trump said the US was bouncing back. “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. And that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic, largely through. I think we’re doing really well,” he said.
As the country reels from a second weekend of massive protests against racism and police brutality, Trump — facing re-election in November — reiterated his calls to further ease stay-at-home measures.
It followed surprisingly upbeat employment numbers that showed the country gained 2.5million jobs in May.
In Europe, countries slowly continued on a path towards a post-pandemic normal, also seeking to revive key tourist sectors in time for summer.
The EU said it could reopen borders to travellers from outside the region early next month, after some countries reopened to European visitors.
In France, the Palace of Versailles reopened without the US and Chinese tourists that usually make up a third of visitors.
The country also marked the anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings with a fraction of the crowds from previous years.
Signs that life was beginning a return to normal in Europe and Asia were tempered by bleak numbers from Latin America.
Brazil’s death toll passed 35,000 as Bolsonaro echoed criticism of the WHO by Trump. “Either the WHO works without ideological bias, or we leave, too,” the far-right leader said.
Tolls are also rising sharply in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and Chile.