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by Dave Clark with AFP bureaus World powers scrambled on Thursday to build a global response to the human tragedy and once-in-a-century economic collapse caused by the coronavirus epidemic, as the worldwide death toll topped 90,000. In a locked-down New York, the UN Security Council was to meet on the pandemic for the first time. And, by video conference, EU finance ministers are wrangling over how to bail out their worst hit members Italy […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Two elderly South Korean coronavirus patients recovered from severe pneumonia after being treated with plasma from survivors, researchers said Tuesday, offering hope in the face of the global pandemic. Scientists have pointed to the potential benefits of plasma — a blood fluid — from recovered individuals who have developed antibodies to the virus enabling the body’s defenses to attack it. Since emerging in China in December, the coronavirus has killed […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s coronavirus death toll shot up on Monday from its lowest level in more than two weeks and officials sounded a more cautious note than earlier about a possibly easing of restrictions. The civil protection service said the daily number of official COVID-19 deaths rose to 636 on Monday from 525 the day before. Sunday’s toll was the lowest since March 19. It also represented a drop of 23 percent from […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday extended a shutdown in the epicenter of America’s deadly coronavirus pandemic until near the end of the month. Cuomo said the COVID-19 death rate in the state was “effectively flat” for the past two days but announced that schools and non-essential businesses must stay shut until April 29. “Now is not the time to be lax,” he told reporters, adding that fines […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — France on Sunday reported 357 coronavirus deaths in hospital in 24 hours, the lowest daily increase in a week, bringing the country’s toll to 8,078. The tally included 5,889 patients who died in hospital and 2,189 people in old age homes and other medical facilities, a government statement said. It said there were now 28,891 people with coronavirus in hospital in France — up 748 from the day before — with […]
by Didier LAURAS Agence France Presse One day, the battle against the novel coronavirus will be won. But the world that emerges may look very different from the one we lived in before the pandemic began. Over 60,000 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 and there are a more than a million confirmed cases with the outbreak yet to reach its peak across the developed and emerging world. But on top of the tragic […]
HONG KONG, Chinaa (AFP) — About 130 of Hong Kong’s frontline riot police officers will be sent to quarantine camp after two of their colleagues were confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus, a police source told AFP late Saturday. A 46-year-old sergeant, stationed in the city’s Kowloon West region, was confirmed to be infected early on the same day. He was deployed in a crowd control operation during a protest on Tuesday. Another officer, […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy saw its first drop Saturday in the number of patients receiving intensive care treatment for the coronavirus that had stretched the Mediterranean country’s world-class healthcare system to breaking point. Civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli called the drop from 4,068 on Friday to 3,994 on Saturday in the number of critical patients an important moment in Italy’s battle against COVID-19. “This is a very important data point because the figure […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — All international football matches scheduled for June were postponed on Friday following the first meeting of FIFA’s coronavirus working group. It was also decided to hold discussions with confederations to draw up a revised schedule for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers which have been shelved. “The FIFA-Confederations working group… has unanimously approved a series of recommendations following its first meeting, which was organised via conference call today,” said a FIFA statement. […]
by Benoît PELEGRIN Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — OPEC and its allies will meet to discuss oil production cuts next week following US President Donald Trump’s claim that leading producers Russia and Saudi Arabia will slash output to boost tumbling prices. The meeting was originally expected to be held via video conference on Monday, but will now take place on Thursday, the government of energy-rich Azerbaijan said Saturday. “OPEC has informed us about […]
by Phil HAZLEWOOD with AFP bureaus Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The global death toll in the coronavirus crisis soared past 60,000 on Saturday, as US calls for the public to cover their faces reignited debate about whether masks can be effective in stemming the pandemic. The latest milestone came as Britain recorded a new daily high in fatalities, including a five-year-old child believed to be the nation’s youngest COVID-19 victim. But hard-hit […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Saturday the extension of the country’s lockdown until April 25 in order to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. “The cabinet on Tuesday will again ask for authorization from parliament to extend for a second time the state of alert until Saturday April 25 at midnight,’ Sanchez said in a televised speech. “With the utmost caution, we believe that this is the time that […]
