Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Germany’s health minister says pandemic’s spread now ‘controllable’
The reproduction number of the Covid-19 virus has sunk to a new low in Germany. The health minister, Jens Spahn, said there was now enough evidence to declare the lockdown strategy a success, citing a lowering of the relative day-on-day growth of the pandemic in Germany. Meanwhile, Spain’s overnight death toll from coronavirus rose to 585 on Friday, up from 551 on Thursday but still far off figures of more than 900 registered during the peak of the outbreak in early April. Its number of overall coronavirus cases rose to 188,068 on Friday from 182,816 on Thursday, a 2.9% increase.
Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million
The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,167,955, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have exceeded 146,000.
Jair Bolsonaro accused of leading Brazilians ‘to slaughterhouse’
The country’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused the incumbent of criminally irresponsible handling of the coronavirus as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll hit 1,924.
Indonesia becomes south-east Asian country with most infections
Indonesia has reported 407 new coronavirus cases, taking its total number to 5,923, and surpassing the Philippines as the country with the highest number of infections in south-east Asia.
World’s biggest trial of Covid-19 drugs starts in UK
The Recovery trial has recruited more than 5,000 patients in 165 NHS hospitals around the UK in a month, before similar trials in the US and Europe, which have a few hundred patients.
Wuhan death toll revised up 50%
Wuhan’s prevention and control taskforce has revised the death toll in Wuhan upwards by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. The updated figure comes after weeks of scepticism about the reported death toll, as other countries have seen fatalities reach more than 10,000.
China’s GDP shrinks 6.8% in March quarter
China has reported its first ever quarterly contraction, at 6.8%, its slowest pace on record. China’s economy has not recorded a contraction since 1992 when the country began publishing quarterly GDP data. In 2019, China had already posted its slowest growth in almost 30 years.
Donald Trump issues guidelines for reopening US
The US president has unveiled a plan with three phases, each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. Trump says states who meet phase 1 criteria can reopen on Friday, and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
UN warns pandemic turning into a ‘child rights crisis’
The social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is potentially catastrophic for millions of children, according to a UN report launched on Thursday. It said Covid-19 was turning into a broader child rights crisis.
