GERMANY MARKS 100,000 DEATHS FROM COVID-19
BERLIN» Chancellor Angela Merkel labeled Thursday “a very sad day” and backed calls for more restrictions, as her country became the latest to surpass 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
The national disease control agency said it recorded 351 deaths in connection with the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 100,119. In Europe, Germany is the fifth country to pass that mark, after Russia, the United Kingdom, Italy and France.
“It is of course a very sad day that we have to mourn 100,000 victims of the coronavirus,” Merkel said. “And unfortunately, at the moment, more than 300 deaths are being added to that each day.”
The longtime German leader, who is currently in office as caretaker until her successor is sworn in, warned that hundreds more deaths were looming.
“(The deaths) correlate very clearly with the number of infections that are occurring,” she said. “We know how many people on average do not survive this disease.”
The Robert Koch Institute, a federal agency that collects data from some 400 regional health offices, said Germany set a record for daily confirmed cases — 75,961 — in the past 24hour period. Since the start of the outbreak, Germany has had more than 5.57 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“The situation is so serious because we are still in an exponential growth and because the cases that we see getting sick today are basically the patients who will be in intensive care in 10 or 14 days,” Merkel said.
Russia raises death toll in Siberian coal mine blast to 52. MOSCOW»A devastating explosion in a Siberian coal mine Thursday left 52 miners and rescuers dead about 820 feet underground, Russian officials said.
Hours after a methane gas explosion and fire filled the mine with toxic fumes, rescuers found 14 bodies. But they were forced to halt the search for 38 others because of a buildup of methane and carbon monoxide gas from the fire.
An additional 239 people were rescued.
The state Tass and Rianovosti news agencies cited emergency officials as saying that there was no chance of finding any more survivors in the Listvyazhnaya mine, in the Kemerovo region of southwestern Siberia.
The Interfax news agency cited a representative of the regional administration who also put the death toll from Thursday’s accident at 52, saying they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
It was the deadliest mine accident in Russia since 2010, when two methane explosions and a fire killed 91 people at the Raspadskaya mine in the same Kemerovo region.
A total of 285 people were in the Listvyazhnaya mine early Thursday when the blast sent smoke that quickly filled the mine through the ventilation system. Rescuers led to the surface 239 miners, 49 of whom were injured, and found 11 bodies.
Later in the day, six rescuers also died while searching for others trapped in a remote section of the mine, the news reports said.
Regional officials declared three days of mourning.
Al-shabab blast outside school in Somali capital kills at least eight. MOGADISHU, SOMALIA» A large explosion outside a school in Somalia’s capital on Thursday killed at least eight people, including students, witnesses said. The extremist group alshabab claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group linked to alqaeda controls large parts of rural Somalia and continues to frustrate efforts at rebuilding the Horn of Africa nation after three decades of conflict.
The blast sent a plume of smoke above a busy part of Mogadishu during the morning rush hour. The blast shredded part of the school, with emergency workers looking through the collapsed roof beams and wooden benches.
“We were extremely terrified by the blast,” said teacher Mohamed Osman, who said he was explaining a lesson to students when the explosion occurred. “We were disorientated, and we were covered with dust and smoke.”
Police spokesman Abdifatah Adam Hassan said eight people were killed and 17 others wounded.
Solomon Islands leader blames foreign powers for unrest. CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA» Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday blamed foreign interference over his government’s decision to switch alliances from Taiwan to Beijing for antigovernment protests, arson and looting that have ravaged the capital, Honiara, in recent days.
Sogavare angered many in 2019, particularly leaders of the Solomon Islands’ most populous province, Malaita, when he cut the country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
A plane carrying Australian police and diplomats arrived late Thursday in Honiara, where they will help local police efforts to restore order after a second day of violent antigovernment protests, Defense Minister Peter Dutton said.
Sogavare said he stood by his government’s decision to embrace Beijing, which he described as the “only issue” in the violence, which was “unfortunately influenced and encouraged by other powers.”