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| - Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: More than three million cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Europe, more than half of them in Russia, Britain, Spain and Italy, according to an AFP tally Thursday. The continent remains the hardest hit in terms of deaths, with 206,714. A United Nations body says nearly three billion of the world's poorest people should receive a temporary basic income to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. According to a report released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), funding of $199 billion per month would provide 2.7 billion people with a temporary basic income and the "means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses". The pandemic has killed at least 627,307 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, with more than 15.2 million people infected, according to an AFP tally at 1100 GMT on Thursday based on official sources. The United States has the most deaths with 143,190, followed by Brazil with 82,771, Britain with 45,501, Mexico with 41,190 and Italy with 35,082. South Africa has recorded a jump of 59 percent in overall numbers of natural deaths in recent weeks, fuelling suspicions of a much higher toll of coronavirus-related fatalities than officially reported. The report by the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRCl, which is government-funded but independent, came as the health ministry announced a record increase of 572 coronavirus deaths over the previous 24 hours. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu names a public health professional to the post of dedicated coronavirus response coordinator, the job going to Ronnie Gamzu, CEO of Tel Aviv's Sourasky medical complex. Public confidence in the government has been dented by a recent wave of contradictory emergency decrees opening, closing and reopening amenities such as restaurants, public beaches and gyms. In recent weeks new cases have regularly topped 1,000 per day, with a spike of 2,000 on July 20. Britain's world-leading theatre industry faces mass redundancies and venue closures resulting from the coronavirus lockdown, lawmakers say. In a prime example, Shakespeare's Globe in London has warned it faces insolvency without emergency government funding and job protection programmes. Several provincial theatres have already closed. burs-jba-jmy/gd
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