Latest update: 21/04/2020 09:21
Reported cases of the coronavirus have crossed 2.46 million globally and 169,863 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying he will suspend all immigration into the country.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, click here.
AMERICAS
A Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Tuesday showed U.S. coronavirus deaths topping 42,300, while more than 780,000 people were infected.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will suspend all immigration into the United States temporarily through an executive order.
Trump also said he was working with state governors to make sure they had the resources needed to ramp up testing, while the U.S. Congress inched toward a $450 billion deal to help small businesses and hospitals.
The World Health Organization said easing of lockdowns must be gradual.
Residents of a suburban New York City county sued the WHO, accusing it of gross negligence in covering up and responding to the pandemic.
Connecticut on Monday reported the state’s highest one-day totals for confirmed cases and deaths due to new classifications from federal regulators, while a study of Los Angeles Country residents suggested the rate of infection may be 40 times higher than confirmed cases.
Argentina is set to widen an economic aid package to 850 billion pesos ($12.9 billion).
Brazil is discussing with its main airlines to further reduce an already minimal flight schedule, three sources told Reuters, while President Jair Bolsonaro hopes this would be the last week of stay-at-home measures.
Colombia will extend its coronavirus quarantine until May 11.
Panama registered 191 new cases and 10 deaths on Monday, bringing total cases to 4,658 and the death toll to 136.
Mexico and Haiti have detected infections among migrants deported recently from the United States.
EUROPE
Germany’s confirmed cases rose by 1,785 to 143,457.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia had managed to slow the spread of the coronavirus but warned the peak still lay ahead after confirmed infections surged past 47,000.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled readiness to finance economic recovery in Europe from the pandemic through a bigger European Union budget and the issuance of joint debt via the European Commission.
The spread of the coronavirus in Spain seems to be slowing despite more than 200,000 people now having been infected.
Police and youths clashed for a second night in a low-income Paris suburb on Sunday as strict lockdown rules threaten a fragile social peace in deprived areas.
Britain needs to be sure that any lifting or easing of social distancing measures does not lead to a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
ASIA-PACIFIC
The WHO said it is not possible to determine the precise source of the new coronavirus at this stage.
Hong Kong’s government will extend social restrictions for another 14 days.
Thailand, which recorded 19 new cases, said its customs-based exports in March unexpectedly increased 4.17% from a year earlier.
Indonesia will ban the mass exodus tradition, locally known as ‘mudik,’ at the end of the Muslim fasting month in May.
Australia will relax restrictions on elective surgeries after slowing the spread of coronavirus, while students in New South Wales will start returning to school next month in much larger numbers.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand plans to ease mortgage restrictions as a response to the economic downturn from the pandemic.
Singapore’s health ministry confirmed an additional 1,426 cases of the COVID-19 infection, a record daily jump.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
Shopping malls and bazaars reopened in Iran despite warnings by health officials that a new wave of infections could ripple through the country.
The coronavirus crisis is stirring anti-Semitism around the world, fuelled by centuries-old lies that Jews are spreading infection, researchers in Israel said.
South Africa will increase welfare provision to help poor households suffering because of a lockdown.
Kuwait will extend the suspension of work in the public sector until May 31 and expand a nationwide curfew to 16 hours, a government spokesman said.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said a four-day lockdown would be imposed in 31 cities from Thursday.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
U.S. crude oil bounced back into positive territory on Tuesday, but a historic plunge below zero rattled investors and triggered the steepest drop in Asian stock markets in a month.
Containment measures are hitting Germany’s services and the retail sector especially hard, the finance ministry said.
Australia may have lost three quarters of a million jobs between mid-March and early April when large chunks of the economy were shut down.
Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd succumbed to third-party led restructuring that could lead to a sale.
For the first time since September 2004, no merger and acquisition deal worth more than $1 billion was announced worldwide last week, according to Refinitiv.
(Reuters)
Pictured: Senior nurse anesthesiologist Nilu Patel participates in a candlelight vigil at her shift change at UC Irvine Medical Center over the need for more N95 respirators and protective gear during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Irvine, California, U.S., April 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
