Latest update: 24/04/2020 09:10
Reported cases of the coronavirus have crossed 2.7 million globally and 189,970 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Friday.
DEATHS AND INFECTIONS
For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, click here.
AMERICAS
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday.
An array of U.S. merchants in Georgia and other states prepared to reopen for the first time in a month.
A preliminary survey of New York state residents found that nearly 14% of those tested had antibodies against the coronavirus.
California recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday.
Drugmaker Gilead disputed a report that said its experimental coronavirus drug failed a trial in China, saying results were inconclusive as the study was terminated early.
Canada pledged new money to develop and eventually mass-produce vaccines.
Costa Rica has for the past week reported a steady fall in the number of people currently infected.
Ecuador’s authorities added 11,000 new infections that resulted from delayed testing.
Cuba’s decades-old rationing system is staging a comeback in a bid to prevent virus transmission during frantic shopping hunts.
EUROPE
France offered retailers some relief on Thursday, saying it wanted them to reopen when a nationwide lockdown ends on May 11.
Spain’s daily increase in fatalities further steadied at around 2%, as the government apologised for confusion over lockdown rules for children.
Germany has chosen a home-grown technology for smartphone-based tracing of infections, putting it at odds with Apple Inc.
Britain’s health minister Matt Hancock promised to expand testing to all those considered key workers.
Greece extended its general lockdown by a week to May 4.
Irish hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients have fallen from an average of around 100 per day at the start of April to around 40 now.
ASIA-PACIFIC
South Asia’s infections have crossed 37,000, with more than half in India.
China is preparing to buy more than 30 million tonnes of crops for state stockpiles to help protect itself from supply chain disruptions.
Thousands of Hong Kong students were among the first in the world to take their final secondary school exams on Friday, all wearing face masks and having their temperatures checked.
As many as 91 crew of an Italian cruise ship docked in Japan’s southwestern port of Nagasaki are infected with coronavirus. Tokyo’s first drive-through coronavirus test centre was launched this week.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has extended a strict lockdown in the capital Manila until May 15.
Indonesia will temporarily ban domestic air and sea travel starting Friday, barring a few exceptions.
Malaysia will extend travel and other curbs by two weeks to May 12.
Australia will push for an international investigation into the coronavirus pandemic at next month’s annual meeting of the World Health Assembly.
MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government will allow a partial reopening of the economy on May 1.
The governors of Nigeria’s 36 states agreed to ban interstate movement for two weeks.
Algeria will ease confinement measures from the first day of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday.
Israel’s religiously devout Jews, who traditionally shun the use of internet or smartphones, are increasingly going online to shop, study and video chat.
ECONOMIC FALLOUT
Asian shares and U.S. stock futures fell on Friday, spurred by doubts about progress in the development of drugs to treat COVID-19 and new evidence of U.S. economic damage.
The UK’s government borrowing is soaring to the highest levels in peacetime history.
The closure of bars and restaurants may have slashed global wine sales and winemakers’ revenues in Europe by half.
Japan’s core consumer inflation eased in March for the second straight month.
Half of German companies are using the government’s short-time work facility as most see a decline in revenues.
Italian government debt yields fell after EU leaders agreed to move towards joint financing of a recovery.
Latin America’s biggest economies, Brazil and Mexico, will likely struggle with increasing deficits this year.
(Reuters)
Pictured: Workers work at the “Corona Treatment Center Jaffestrasse” makeshift hospital being set up at the fairgrounds to treat patients following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Berlin, Germany April 23, 2020. Odd Andersen/Pool via REUTERS
