|
 DEATHS
AND INFECTIONS
- For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.
- U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open
https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.
EUROPE
- Europe's governments need to support each other to adopt the best
policies, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said in
a letter to an Italian daily.
- European Union governments piled pressure on the Netherlands to
unblock half-a-trillion euros of economic support ahead of a meeting
of finance ministers, with Italy saying the very future of the EU
was at stake.
- Italy may start lifting some restrictions by the end of April
provided the slowing trend continues, its prime minister told the
BBC on Thursday, but the easing can only be gradual.
- Total cases in Germany rose by 4,974 in the past 24 hours to
108,202 on Thursday. The death toll rose by 246 to 2,107.
- Hungary registered more than 100 infections in an elderly people's
home in Budapest.
- Spain's number of daily coronavirus deaths slowed on Thursday
after two days of increases as 683 people succumbed in 24 hours,
taking the total to 15,238, the health ministry said.
- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third night in
intensive care but is improving as his government prepares to review
its most stringent shut down in the peacetime history.
- Malta announced its first death on Wednesday.
AMERICAS
- Efforts to push a further $250 billion of aid for small businesses
through the U.S. Congress stalled as top Democrats said they would
back the measure only if it was coupled with a similar amount for
hospitals and local governments.
- Some coronavirus patients who would have been admitted into the
emergency department at a New York hospital are being sent home with
oxygen-monitoring devices as the city's medical system struggles to
reserve resources.
- The United States will seize exports of key protective medical
gear until it determines whether they should be kept in the country,
federal agencies announced on Wednesday.
- Ecuador's president called for an investigation into how local
authorities handled the bodies of coronavirus victims in Guayaquil,
the epicenter of the country's outbreak.
- Mexico registered 396 new cases, bringing the country's total to
3,181 with 174 deaths. Its deputy health minister said Mexico might
have 26,500 people infected with the virus.
- Peru extended its state of emergency for two more weeks to April
26.
- Honduras will extend its national curfew to April 19. [nL2N2BX02U
ASIA
- Chinese doctors at a key coronavirus hospital in Wuhan said they
have been using HIV drug Kaletra since January and believe it is
beneficial, despite a previous study that said it was ineffective.
- Local schools in Shanghai will reopen starting April 27, a senior
education official said.
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- Tokyo has more than 180 new cases on Thursday, the highest daily jump,
Japanese media reported.
- Australian police said they have taken the "black box" of a cruise ship which
disembarked hundreds of infected passengers in Sydney, as part of a homicide
investigation into the country's deadliest infection source.
- Indian and Pakistani troops in Kashmir are engaged in their most frequent
cross-border fighting of at least two years, official data shows, even as they
battle surging outbreaks.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
- A lockdown kept the streets of Jerusalem and other Israeli cities nearly empty
on the Jewish Passover holiday, which typically draws crowds of people.
- Political and physical divisions in the West Bank and Gaza have induced two
very different responses, with a strict lockdown in the first and crowds milling
about freely in the second.
- Ethiopia and Liberia declared states of emergency, a day after cases on the
continent surged past 10,000.
- A South African public sector union withdrew a court case against the
government over shortages of protective gear for frontline health workers.
- Somalia registered its first death. ECONOMIC FALLOUT
- Global shares rose on Thursday on hopes the pandemic was nearing a peak and
expectations of more economic stimulus, while expectations of a deal to cut oil
production bolstered crude prices. [MKTS/GLOB]
- Investment funds should not face enforcement action by national regulators for
failing to meet reporting deadlines during the crisis, the European Union's
markets watchdog said.
- A decision by India's supreme court to make testing for coronavirus free
places an unfair financial burden on medical firms and could see a reduction in
testing, said business leaders and health experts.
- Britain's economy was almost stagnant in the three months to February, before
the coronavirus crisis escalated and pushed the country into what is likely to
be a historic recession, official data showed on Thursday.
- Ireland's unemployment rate more than trebled to 16.5% at the end of March,
the state's statistics office said on Thursday, ahead of a likely further surge
this month.
- Denmark's economy could shrink by up to 6% this year and the country faces the
"darkest chapter in its economic history", its finance minister said.
- Switzerland's government will look at temporarily changing its bankruptcy laws
to protect companies hit by cash-flow problems and mounting debts during the
crisis.
- Mexico will apply looser liquidity rules on banks to help them weather the
outbreak, the central bank said.
- Dubai told all government agencies to slash spending and freeze hiring until
further notice, according to an official document seen by Reuters.
- The fallout from the coronavirus could push around half a billion people into
poverty, Oxfam said on Thursday.
(Compiled by Sarah Morland, Milla Nissi, Aditya Soni and Uttaresh.V; Editing by
Tomasz Janowski, Arun Koyyur and Anil D'Silva)
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