Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York recorded a new single-day high for coronavirus deaths on Wednesday but Governor Andrew Cuomo said the epidemic appeared to be stabilizing. Cuomo said 779 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in New York state from COVID-19 to 6,268. The previous high of 731 was set on Monday. New York is bearing the brunt of America’s deadly coronavirus pandemic, accounting for […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The COVID-19 pandemic could provoke the deepest recession in living memory, World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo warned Wednesday. “As we face what may well be the deepest economic recession or downturn of our lifetimes, we should aim to make the most of all potential drivers of sustainable growth to reverse this situation,” he told a virtual news conference in Geneva. © Agence France-Presse
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran on Wednesday reported 121 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing its overall number of fatalities to 3,993. In the past 24 hours, 1,997 new cases of COVID-19 infection were detected in Iran, state news agency IRNA quoted health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour as saying. That put the number of confirmed cases at 64,586, he added. Iran, which announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19, is by far the […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Global trade growth is expected to plummet by up to a third in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the World Trade Organization said Wednesday, warning that the numbers would be “ugly”. “World trade is expected to fall by between 13 percent and 32 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world,” the WTO said in a statement. There was a wide range […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The head of the European Research Council has resigned, the EU confirmed on Wednesday, reportedly in protest at the bloc’s handling of its coronavirus response. Mauro Ferrari, who only took over as president of the ERC in January, told the Financial Times he was “extremely disappointed” by the EU’s response to the pandemic, which has hit Italy and Spain particularly hard. A spokesman for the Europan Commission, the bloc’s executive that […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Despite “positive signs” from some countries, it is too early to scale back measures aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, the World Health Organization’s European office said Wednesday. “Now is not the time to relax measures,” WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, told a news conference. “It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spain recorded Wednesday a second successive daily rise in coronavirus-related deaths with 757 fatalities, lifting the total toll in Europe’s second-hardest-hit country after Italy by 5.5 percent to 14,555. The number of new infections rose by 4.4 percent to 146,690, the health ministry said, as Spain has ramped up its testing for the disease. The number of daily deaths, which peaked on Thursday at 950, rose for the first time on […]
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (AFP) — Five civilians were killed on Wednesday when their car was hit in a bomb attack in Turkey’s southeast, local officials said. The governor of Kurdish-majority Diyarbakir province said the attack was carried out in the early hours by “members of the PKK terror organization”, referring to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The PKK has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is listed as a terror group by […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Most Asian equities retreated Wednesday after a two-day rally as investors closely track developments in the coronavirus crisis, while the oil market continued to fluctuate ahead of a crucial producers’ meeting. While the deadly disease continues to sweep across the planet, signs that the rate of infections is possibly leveling out and countries are preparing to ease some lockdown restrictions have instilled a semblance of optimism this week. However, the […]
by Jean-Baptiste OUBRIER Agence France Presse Deprived of customers such as supermarkets, restaurants and schools due to the coronavirus outbreak and resulting lockdown, British farmers are throwing away thousands of litres of milk. Coffee shops and office blocks, also shut because of COVID-19, are no longer receiving their early morning deliveries, although there has been a hike in the amount of milk being dropped off at people’s homes in time for breakfast, according to the […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse As COVID-19 captures global headlines, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that the world needs nearly six million nurses. The UN’s health agency along with partners Nursing Now and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) underscored in a report the crucial role played by nurses, who make up more than half of all health workers worldwide. “Nurses are the backbone of any health system,” WHO chief Tedros […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Sixty-six people, most of them staff at one South African hospital, have tested positive for coronavirus, the health minister said Tuesday as the national total of cases jumpted to 1,749. Authorities are now rushing to temporarily shut the facility. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said authorities were concerned about an outbreak at St. Augustine hospital, in the southeastern coastal city of Durban. Of those infected, 48 are hospital staffers, the minister […]
