schema:articleBody
| - Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: There have been more than 2,207,730 reported COVID-19 infections around the world, from which 150,142 people have died, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT Friday based on official sources. The United States has the most deaths of any country with 34,575 fatalities. Italy is the second hardest-hit country, with 22,745 dead. Spain follows with 19,478, then France with 18,681 and Britain with 14,576. Amid growing criticism from world leaders for its handling of the pandemic, China raises by 50 percent the toll for Wuhan city where the coronavirus first emerged, pushing the nationwide death toll up sharply to 4,632. "There has never been any concealment" a foreign ministry spokesman says. The additional deaths in Wuhan were cases that were "mistakenly reported" or missed entirely, Beijing says. US President Donald Trump says China's real death toll from the coronavirus is "far higher" than that given by the authorities. The pandemic is "under control" in Germany, says health minister Jens Spahn, as the country prepares to ease lockdown measures and increase output of protective masks. Germany's key person-to-person infection rate has dropped to 0.7 percent for the first time, according to the Robert Koch Institute, a sign the disease is losing steam there. Russian President Vladimir Putin warns of "very high" risks from the virus, particularly in rural provinces. The government authorises the use of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine to treat patients despite international caution over its safety and effectiveness. Italy says a record 2,563 people have recovered in one day. Nearly 17,000 medics have been infected with the virus, two thirds of whom are women, its public health institute reveals. They represent one tenth of infections in the world's second worst hit country. Nearly half of the 2,300 sailors who were aboard France's prized Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and support ships when a coronavirus outbreak occurred at sea have tested positive for the virus, the defence minister says. At least 4.5 billion people, or almost 58 percent of the world's population is called on or forced by authorities to stay at home in at least 110 countries or territories, according to an AFP database on Friday. Economic damage from the pandemic could wipe out progress made in poor countries, the World Bank president David Malpass warns. He says that $160 billion in funding the bank plans to roll out over the next 15 months to help poor countries respond to the crisis "won't be enough". Comic-Con San Diego, one of the world's largest pop culture gatherings, due to take place in July is cancelled for the first time in its 50-year history due to the pandemic. burs-acm/jmy/wai
|