Coronavirus: French death toll passes 19,000 as over 2.2m cases are reported worldwide

More than 2.26 million people have been reported to have been infected by coronavirus globally and 154,613 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Covid-19 infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases of the novel coronavirus were identified in China in December 2019.

Europe

Spain has reached 20,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic and total infections have increased to more than 190,000. Only Italy and the US have recorded more deaths. Spain’s health authorities have reported 565 deaths in the last 24 hours, while new infections have risen by nearly 4,500. More than 74,000 people in Spain have recovered from the virus.

This week, health authorities said there were discrepancies in the statistics of virus deaths and infections reported by regional administrations. The central government has ordered regions to give more precise data and use the same parameters.

As the outbreak’s spread slows, pressure on Spain’s hospitals has relaxed. Authorities have closed one part of a huge field hospital with thousands of beds set up by the military in a convention centre in Madrid.

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But strict confinement rules are expected to be extended beyond April 26th.

Italy’s health ministry has announced 3,491 new coronavirus cases, nearly identical to the previous day’s increase in confirmed infections. There were 482 more deaths, raising the overall official death toll there to 23,227, which is Europe’s highest number of deaths. The country is approaching the end of its sixth week of nationwide lockdown, with people allowed out of their homes only for essential work or buying food and tending to family members. Overall, Italy has nearly 176,000 confirmed cases.

France registered 642 more deaths from coronavirus on Saturday, bringing its total death toll to 19,323, the fourth-highest tally in the world, although the number of people in hospital declined for a fourth day running.

Britain’s hospital death toll from Covid-19 rose by 888 to 15,464 as of 4pm on April 17th, its health ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said: “357,023 people have been tested, of which 114,217 tested positive.”

Queen Elizabeth effectively cancelled plans to publicly celebrate her 94th birthday on Tuesday, silencing a traditional ceremonial gun salute because she thought it would not be fitting in the current circumstances.

Confirmed coronavirus infections in the Netherlands have risen by 1,140 to 31,589, Dutch health authorities said on Saturday.

The death toll among people known to have been infected with the novel coronavirus increased by 142 to 3,601, the Dutch Institute for Public Health said in its daily update.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases have risen by 3,609 to 137,439, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed on Saturday, marking a fourth straight day of a spike in new infections. The death toll has risen by 242 to 4,110, the tally showed.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany's 16 federal state leaders have agreed to allow smaller shops to reopen and selected classes to return to schools from Monday. Hairdressers and other services will follow from early May. But restaurants, bars and hotels remain shuttered, as are places of worship for religious services.

United States

US president Donald Trump has insisted deaths from Covid-19 are much higher in China than in the US, despite official statistics painting a far different picture.

China has more than four times the population of the US but has reported far fewer deaths, about 4,600 deaths compared with more than 35,000 in the US as of Saturday.

"When I listen to the press every night saying we have the most [deaths] - we don't have the most in the world," Mr Trump told Friday's White House briefing.

“The most in the world has to be China. It’s a massive country. It’s gone through a tremendous problem with this, a tremendous problem. And they must have the most.”

The US has by far the world’s largest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with more than 700,000. New York state accounts for nearly half of its Covid-19 deaths.

Mr Trump’s claims came as he defended tweets in which he appeared to endorse protests against stringent lockdown measures in several US states.

The US president wrote in a series of tweets: “LIBERATE MINNESOTA”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and then “LIBERATE VIRGINIA”.

The protesters say coronavirus restrictions are hurting citizens by limiting movement unreasonably and stifling economic activity. Texas on Saturday became the latest US state hit by the protests, which are largely made up of supporters of Mr Trump anxious to get back to work.

New York, epicentre of the US epidemic, on Saturday reported a total of 540 coronavirus-related deaths for April 17th, the lowest daily tally since April 1st.

“If you look at the past three days, you could argue that we are past the plateau and we’re starting to descend, which would be very good news,” New York governor Andrew Cuomo said during his daily coronavirus briefing on Saturday.

Hundreds of people in Florida reportedly flocked to several beaches as they reopened for “essential activities” after being closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, despite the state’s death toll climbing to 726.

China

China on Saturday reported 27 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, as it tries to stem an upsurge in infections in a northeastern province bordering Russia.

Twenty of the new cases were in the northeastern Heilongjiang province, including 13 Chinese nationals who had returned recently from Russia. The land border with Russia has been closed.

China's official death toll rose sharply to 4,632, reflecting a major upwards revision the previous day by authorities in Wuhan, the nation's hardest-hit city. The latest confirmed cases brought the total number infected to 82,719, of which 77,029 have recovered and been discharged, the National Health Commission said.

Japan

Hospitals in Japan are increasingly turning away sick people as the country struggles with surging coronavirus infections and its emergency medical system collapses. In one recent case, an ambulance carrying a man with a fever and difficulty breathing was rejected by 80 hospitals and forced to search for hours for a hospital in downtown Tokyo that would treat him.

Japan on Saturday reported 556 new cases of coronavirus, surpassing 10,000 total cases about three months after the first case was detected in the country.

Nearly one-third of the domestic cases come from Tokyo, where the daily surge has overburdened hospitals, triggering fears that the medical system will collapse.

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe this week expanded his April 7th state of emergency in Tokyo and six urban prefectures to all of Japan.

Australia

A German cruise ship has left the state of Western Australia state after a three-week stay during which three people on board died of Covid-19.

The Artania began its journey from Fremantle back to Europe, keeping to its scheduled early afternoon departure time on Saturday.

A total of 79 crew and passengers from the Artania tested positive for coronavirus in Western Australia. They included a 42-year-old crewman from the Philippines who died in a Perth hospital on Thursday, raising the state's toll to seven.

The ship's captain, Morten Hansen, said the crew member had been with the company since 2006 and most recently served as a motorman, and described his death as "heartbreaking".

Two other people from the Artania died last week, one a passenger in his 70s, and the other a 69-year-old crewman.

South Korea

South Korea has reported 18 new cases of the coronavirus, its lowest daily jump since February 20th, continuing a downward trend as officials discuss more sustainable forms of social distancing that allow for some communal and economic activity.

Figures released by South Korea’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday brought national totals to 10,653 cases and 232 virus-related deaths. The caseload continued to wane in the hardest-hit city of Daegu, where officials say the number of active cases dropped below 1,000 for the first time since a surge of infections in late February.

At least 993 of the overall infections have been linked to arrivals from overseas. Most of these cases were detected in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area over the past month as thousands of students and other South Korean nationals returned home amid worsening outbreaks and suspended school years in Europe and the US.

Middle East and Africa

Turkey’s confirmed coronavirus cases have risen to 82,329, health minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday, overtaking neighbouring Iran for the first time to register the highest total in the Middle East. Iran has allowed some businesses in the capital Tehran and nearby towns to reopen on Saturday after weeks of lockdown aimed at containing what had been the worst coronavirus outbreak in the region.

Africa has recorded more than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A total of 52 of the continent’s 54 countries have reported Covid-19, with the overall number of cases standing at more than 19,800.

Nigerian officials announced that the president’s chief of staff has died of the virus. The government said Abba Kyari, chief of staff to president Muhammadu Buhari, died on Friday of Covid-19.

Mr Kyari had been considered by some as Nigeria's most powerful government figure. His infection had been one of most high-profile in Africa. He was reported to have been infected during a visit to Germany. He was criticised for not isolating upon his return to Nigeria, and was accused of infecting other top government officials.

Nigeria currently has nearly 500 cases of the virus.

The WHO on Friday noted a 51 per cent increase in cases in Africa and a 60 per cent jump in deaths in the past week.

But the WHO chief warned that because of a shortage of testing “it’s likely the real numbers are higher than reported”.

The Africa CDC has said more than 1 million test kits will be rolled out, starting next week. – Agencies