Global virus death toll passes 94,000, but some
signs of hope
Another
horror day of the coronavirus pandemic saw the global death toll pass 94,000,
although there were tentative signs of hope that the crisis was peaking in the
United States and Europe.
The
picture of the unfolding economic catastrophe also became clearer with the IMF
warning of a Great Depression and data showing 17 million Americans lost their
jobs, but a European Union financial rescue package agreement offered some
relief to the barrage of bad news.
Another
1,700 people died in the United States on Thursday, while there were hundreds
more deaths across Europe, driving the confirmed global toll above 94,000.
Nearly
half of all pandemic fatalities have occurred over the past week.
But
authorities in worst-hit Europe and the United States said a slight decline in
daily deaths and infections gave reason to hope the worst could be over.
"The
fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control," said
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, where fatalities inched down to 683 from
757 a day before, pushing that country’s total above 15,000.
"Our
priority now is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting
point, not to lower our guard."
France
also reported that 82 fewer people were in intensive care for COVID-19 -- the
first fall since the pandemic broke out.
And
Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top pandemic expert, said the United States
was "going in the right direction".
The
US recorded 1,783 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns
Hopkins University as of 0030 GMT Friday, lower than the previous day’s record
toll of 1,973.
The
US has seen more than 16,500 confirmed deaths, the second-highest tally in the
world after Italy, and more than 460,000 confirmed cases.
In
New York, the epicentre of the virus in the United States, only 200 more people
entered hospitals, the lowest number since the pandemic struck, even though 799
people died over the last day, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
"We
are flattening the curve by what we are doing," Cuomo said, adding,
"We have to keep the curve flat."
But
he declined to predict how New York would fare in the coming weeks, telling
reporters bluntly: "I have no idea."
Further
lifting spirits, the health improved of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson,
the highest profile of the 1.5 million people infected by the virus, and he
ended three days of intensive care.
However
Britain announced another 881 deaths on Thursday, taking the total to nearly
8,000.
‘A Europe that protects’
On
the economic front, Europe attempted a fightback with EU finance ministers
agreeing in late-night talks to a 500 billion-euro ($550 billion) rescue
package aimed at reducing pain across the 27-nation bloc, especially
hardest-hit Italy and Spain.
"Europe
has decided and is ready to meet the gravity of the crisis," French
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tweeted after the talks.
He
warned earlier in the day that France’s economy was expected to shrink six
percent this year, even with the country’s own 100-billion-euro relief plan.
The
US Federal Reserve threw its own fresh lifeline to Americans, with chairman
Jerome Powell announcing a $2.3 trillion financing measure "to provide as
much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic
activity."
The
International Monetary Fund said 170 of its 180 members would see declines in
per capita income this year -- just a few months after predictions that nearly
all would enjoy growth.
"We
anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression," said
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, urging governments to provide lifelines to
businesses and households alike.
Developing world fears
And
despite hopeful signs in Western nations as well as in China, where the virus
was first detected late last year, there are fears the worst is still to come
in much of the developing world.
War-torn
Yemen, which has been experiencing one of the world’s most acute humanitarian
crises, on Friday reported its first case.
Brazilian
authorities Thursday confirmed the first deaths in the favelas of Rio de
Janeiro where crowding and poor sanitation have raised fears of a catastrophe.
There
are similar fears in India, where hundreds of millions of poor people are
becoming increasingly desperate.
"I
keep hearing that the government will do this and that. No one has even come to
see if we are alive or dead," Rajni Devi, a mother of three, told AFP in a
slum on the outskirts of New Delhi.
In
a move to build international solidarity over the crisis, Germany on Thursday
led a videoconference session of the UN Security Council on the pandemic.
Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres opened the session by calling the pandemic "the fight of
a generation -- and the raison d’etre of the United Nations itself."
Guterres
appealed for a global halt to conflicts to concentrate on the COVID-19 fight.
Saudi
Arabia embraced the call by announcing a unilateral pause in its brutal
offensive against rebels who control much of Yemen.
US
President Donald Trump said he spoke Thursday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince,
Mohammed bin Salman, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and thought they
were near a deal to end an oil price war that has thrown further uncertainties
into the global economy.
OPEC
announced Friday that major oil producers except Mexico had agreed to cut
output.