Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
1 million people have recovered
According to Johns Hopkins University data, more than a million people have now recovered from coronavirus infection, with the total currently at 1,014,524.Infections worldwide stand at 3,256,570. More than 233,300 people have died in the pandemic so far.
US jobless toll amounts to 18.4% of working-age population
The White House let its two-week-old economic reopening guidelines expire on Thursday as half of all US states forged ahead with their own strategies for easing restrictions on restaurants, retail and other businesses shuttered by the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reports. Thirty million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since 21 March.
Trump claims he has seen evidence that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan lab
When the president was asked if he has seen anything that gives you a “high degree of confidence” that coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, US President Donald Trump replied: “Yes, I have.” His own government experts say the virus was ‘not manmade or genetically modified’. US intelligence agencies have been under pressure to link coronavirus to Chinese labs. Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, later said of the lab theory: “What we have before us doesn’t suggest that is a likely source”.
Protestors, some armed, gather inside Michigan state capitol
Hundreds of protesters, some armed, gathered inside Michigan’s state capitol on Thursday as state lawmakers debated the Democratic governor’s request to extend her emergency powers to combat coronavirus. Some of the protesters shouted anti-government slogans, including comparing the state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, to Hitler. “Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them,” the state senator Dayna Polehanki wrote on Twitter.
Major US airlines will require passengers to cover their faces during flights
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines said Thursday they will soon require passengers to cover their faces during flights, following the lead of JetBlue Airways, Reuters reports.
Boris Johnson says UK now ‘past the peak’
Johnson promised to set out next week how schools and workplaces could safely reopen once lockdown restrictions were eased, as he claimed the UK was past the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. Despite announcing an increase of 674 in the death toll of the virus, taking it to a total of 26,771, the prime minister suggested the worst was over.
British BAME Covid-19 death rate ‘more than twice that of whites’
The death rate among British black Africans and British Pakistanis from coronavirus in English hospitals is more than 2.5 times that of the white population, according to stark analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
UK food banks face record demand
The first two weeks of the coronavirus lockdown triggered an unprecedented rise in food bank use as the economy was hit and household incomes plunged, data from hundreds of emergency food aid charities reveals.
Jacinda Ardern very popular after lockdown
An opinion poll in New Zealand has found the prime minister’s approval rating jumped to 65% during the country’s nearly five-week strict lockdown. It puts her in a strong position ahead of this year’s general election. Her Labour party also did well, achieving a 55% approval rating.
