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Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Confirmed cases pass 4.2m worldwide
According to Johns Hopkins University researchers, at least 4,222,968 people worldwide are known to have contracted the virus, while at least 287,809 have died since the pandemic began.
The numbers, which are based on official and media reports, are likely to be significantly underestimated due to suspected underreporting and different recording and testing regimes.
The official death toll in the UK exceeds 40,000
The Office for National Statistics says that as of May 9, 35,044 Covid-19-related deaths were recorded in England and Wales. Adding the latest figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland and more updated deaths from the four nations, the official death toll in the UK is now 40,496.
Spain reports fewer daily infections in two months
The number of cases diagnosed in Spain in one day falls to its lowest level in more than two months on Tuesday. The health ministry identifies 594 new cases, bringing the total since the country’s epidemic to 228,030. The number of disease-related deaths increases from 176 to 26,920.
“Potentially positive data” on medicines – WHO
The World Health Organization says that some treatments appear to be limiting the severity or duration of the suffering caused by Covid-19 and that it is focusing on learning more about four or five of the most promising.
“We have some treatments that seem, in very early studies, to limit the severity or duration of the disease, but we have nothing that can kill or stop the virus,” says her spokeswoman Margaret Harris.
Kremlin spokesperson in hospital
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian government, is admitted to the hospital with Covid-19, according to local media reports. “Yes, I got sick, I am receiving treatment,” said Peskov. He is at least the second person in the Vladimir Putin administration to test positive.
Lebanon orders “total blockade”
People in the eastern Mediterranean country are told to stay home for four days after an increase in infections subsides. Lebanese health authorities have officially announced 870 cases of Covid-19, including 11 recently detected on Tuesday and 26 deaths.
UK recession “already happening”
The UK is indeed in the midst of a recession, says its chancellor. Rishi Sunak tells the BBC: “We already know that many people have lost their jobs and that breaks my heart. We have already seen what happens with universal credit claims. This is not something we are going to wait to see; it’s already happening. “
At least in technical terms, the country cannot officially qualify as a recession until the end of this year, because the determination is made retrospectively after two successive quarters of negative growth.
America’s top adviser USA Testifies
Anthony Fauci, the leading public health expert in the US government. The US warns that official figures are underestimating the death toll in the US. USA And that “the consequences could be really serious” if the country relaxes the safeguards too abruptly.
Fauci testified before the Senate on Tuesday when United States President Donald Trump encouraged companies to reopen.
Virus reaches the camp in South Sudan
For the first time, Covid-19 has been confirmed in a crowded civil protection camp in the capital of South Sudan, the United Nations says. It is a worrying development in a country that is one of the least prepared in the world for the spread of the virus.
