The World Health Organization’s top emergency expert has said that European governments must take decisive action to halt the transmission of the coronavirus, including by slowing down massive rallies, to avoid more painful lockdowns. Europe surpassed 100,000 daily cases of Covid-19 for the first time on Thursday, after countries like Russia and the UK saw no respite from the rising number of daily infections in the past five.
Worldwide, 1,063,766 people have died from the coronavirus since it first appeared in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT on Friday based on official sources. Nearly 37 million cases have been officially diagnosed. The United States has the highest death toll, with 212,789, followed by Brazil with 148,957, India 106,490, Mexico 83,096 and Great Britain 42,679.
US President Donald Trump will address supporters in Florida Monday at his first rally since testing positive for Covid-19. He will also give a public address at the White House on Saturday on his favorite “law and order” topic, giving him the opportunity to dispel lingering doubts about his health.
Latin America and the Caribbean will suffer the worst economic and health impact of the coronavirus, the World Bank said, forecasting a fall of almost 8.0 percent in regional GDP. “Our region is suffering the worst economic and health impacts of Covid-19 of any part of the world,” according to Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, the Bank’s regional vice president.
The Nobel Committee says the coronavirus pandemic has driven millions more to hunger while awarding its peace prize to the UN World Food Program.
Software giant Microsoft will allow employees to work from home permanently if they so choose, becoming the latest employer to expand work-from-home provisions triggered by the pandemic, Chief of Staff Kathleen Hogan said in a note to employees. employees obtained by technology news outlet The Borde.
The British government said it would pay up to two-thirds of monthly staff salaries to companies forced to close during the winter months, as infection rates skyrocket. Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has extended a plan launched just two weeks ago for workers to cut their working hours to help companies that must close as part of efforts to cut transmission rates.
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