Latest update: 09/05/2020 16:07
More than 3.95 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 273,805 have died, according to a Reuters tally, as of 0214 GMT on Saturday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, click here.
EUROPE
* The British government has told airlines it will introduce a 14-day quarantine period for most people arriving from abroad to try to avoid a second peak of the coronavirus pandemic, an association representing the airlines said.
* Spain’s daily death toll from the coronavirus fell to its second lowest since mid-March, as half the country prepared to move to the next phase of an exit from one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.
* Russia marked 75 years since the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, but the coronavirus outbreak forced it to scale back celebrations seen as boosting support for President Vladimir Putin.
* Thousands of soldiers marched in Belarus to celebrate the Soviet victory in World War Two, as President Alexander Lukashenko rejected calls for lockdown measures.
* EU states should guarantee vouchers for travel cancelled during the pandemic and start lifting internal border restrictions in a bid to salvage some of the summer tourism season, the bloc’s executive will say next week.
ASIA-PACIFIC
* Hundreds of migrant workers in India’s western state of Gujarat clashed for a second day with authorities, hurling stones at police trying to enforce a coronavirus lockdown.
* Australia’s most populous states held back from relaxing coronavirus restrictions although other states began allowing small gatherings and were preparing to open restaurants and shops.
* Seven people were killed when protesters angry over what they see as unfair food aid distribution during the coronavirus pandemic clashed with police in Afghanistan’s western Ghor province, according to a local member of parliament.
* China will reform its disease prevention and control system to address weaknesses exposed by the coronavirus outbreak, a senior health official said on Saturday.
* Senior international Olympics official John Coates said the delayed Tokyo Olympics could end up being the greatest Games ever, coming next year as the world emerges from the COVID-19 crisis.
AMERICAS
* The U.S. government reported more massive economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis on Friday, with the unemployment rate last month leaping to 14.7%. A day after the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump’s personal valet had tested positive for the virus, Trump said Katie Miller, press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, had also been infected. California gave the green light for its factories to restart.
* Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday he aims to present plans next week to reopen the economy, as key sectors like carmaking look to begin business again after over a month of quarantine measures.
* Argentina extended until May 24 a quarantine for its capital Buenos Aires but relaxed the restriction elsewhere in the country, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday.
* British medical journal The Lancet called President Jair Bolsonaro the biggest threat to Brazil’s ability to successfully combat the spread of the coronavirus and tackle the unfolding public health crisis.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
* The coronavirus could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in Africa in the first year and infect between 29 million and 44 million in the first year if it is not contained, the World Health Organization said.
* Kuwait will enact a “total curfew” from 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Sunday through to May 30, the Information Ministry said on Twitter on Friday.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
* Global shares rallied on Friday, hitting weekly highs, on signs of improving U.S.-China relations and the prospect of more governments gradually reopening their economies.
* The head of the International Monetary Fund signaled a possible downward revision of global economic forecasts, and warned the United States and China against rekindling a trade war that could weaken a recovery from the pandemic.
* As many parts of the world’s biggest economy begin to reopen after weeks of stay-at-home orders, Americans should not expect a quick return to growth, U.S. Federal Reserve officials said on Friday.
* India’s fuel demand dipped 45.8% in April from a year earlier, as a nationwide lockdown and travel curbs eroded economic activity.
* Auto production in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America’s top producers, plunged by an unprecedented 99% in April, with the two countries building a total of just 5,569 units.
(Reuters)
Pictured: People walk and cycle along Broadway Market, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), London, Britain, May 9, 2020. REUTERS/John Sibley
