Worldwide coronavirus cases soar to 600,000

THE number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide yesterday soared past 600,000.

Europe and the US both saw significant increases, with experts grimly warning that much needs to be done to slow the spread of the disease.

While the US now leads the world i n reported i nfections, five countries exceed its 1,700 death toll: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France.

In Spain, undertakers were so overwhelmed by the number of bodies that the military was given special powers to step in and help.

The country recorded a record rise in deaths – 832 in a single day – with 8,000 new cases emerging over the same period. In all, nearly 5,700 people have died.

In France, where the death toll has risen to 2,314 – up from 1,995 on Friday – Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the virus was ‘submerging our care system’ while health chief Frederic Valletoux warned of a ‘ catastrophe’ unless hospitals in Paris and elsewhere across the country receive urgent help.

The number of deaths from the coronavirus in Italy has passed 10,000, while total cases now amount to more than 90,000.

With hardly anywhere untouched by the pandemic, other countries are beginning to close down borders and restrict movement.

Covid- 19 has now spread to dozens of countries in Africa, with 2,650 people infected and 49 dead, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said. Police in Kenya and South Africa have been accused of using excessive force to keep people back into their homes.

In India, authorities sent a fleet of buses to the outskirts of New Delhi to meet an exodus of migrant workers desperately trying to reach their home villages during the world’s largest lockdown.

Thousands of people, mostly young male day labourers but also families, had fled their homes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown, effectively putting millions of Indians who live off daily earnings out of work.

And Sir Lankan police arrested thousands, including many of whom were praying in a mosque, for violating a country wide curfew imposed as a part of stringent measures.

Meanwhile the United Nations said 86 staff members around the world have reported cases of Covid- 19, with most victims in Europe.

British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, temporarily released from prison in Iran because of the coronavirus outbreak, has been given another two weeks with her family.

Richard Ratcliffe said that his wife’s father had been told the 42-year-old’s temporary release from Evin prison in Tehran will now run until 18 April.

The family has also been told that her case has gone to the prosecutor’s office for clemency.

There was, however, some cheerier news for American epidemiologists Jennifer Andonian and Matt Shearer, who had been due to have a wedding reception with about 75 guests on Monday.

Instead of cancelling, their colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston put together a last-minute ceremony for the couple at the hospital.

US is leading the world in reported infections