UK coronavirus death toll rises by 674 to 26,771 – latest updates

Thursday, April 30

Turkey imposes 3-day curfew in 31 provinces

Turkey has imposed a three-day curfew in 31 provinces beginning Thursday midnight in an effort to stem spread of the novel coronavirus, which has claimed 3,174 lives in the country.

The curfew is going to be effective in the capital Ankara as well as Adana, Antalya, Aydin, Balikesir, Bursa, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Ordu, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Tekirdag, Trabzon, Van and Zonguldak.

Although the country seems to have a tendency to declare curfew at the weekends, this period was extended to three days as May 1 is celebrated as an official holiday in the country.

The first curfew was declared on April 11-12 and it was followed by another one in the past week.

UK coronavirus death toll rises by 674 to 26,771

A total of 26,771 people have died of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, up by 674 in a 24-hour period, data from the health ministry showed on Thursday.

The country has 171,253 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, up by 6,032 since the previous day.

The death figures are as of 1600 GMT on April 29, while the data on confirmed cases are as of 9 am (0800 GMT) on April 30. 

Global deaths surpass 230,000

Global coronavirus fatalities exceeded the 230,000 mark Thursday, according to a running tally by US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The university's data counted 230,615 deaths, while the numbers of cases and recoveries stand at 3,247,648 and 1,004,483, respectively.

Russian PM has coronavirus as cases surge past 100,000

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Thursday announced he has tested positive for the coronavirus, as the country's number of confirmed cases surged past 100,000 after its largest daily increase.

In a televised meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mishustin said he has to "observe self-isolation" to protect his colleagues, suggesting a temporary acting PM.

Putin swiftly signed a decree appointing First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov as a temporary replacement.

A spike of 7,099 confirmed infections in the last 24 hours brought Russia's total to 106,498 cases and 1,073 deaths, according to the government's daily coronavirus update.

Germany's Merkel warns of new outbreak risk

Germany will reopen playgrounds, museums and churches from Monday to go with the small shops that reopened this week, and decide within days about schools and sports events as it eases its way out of lockdown.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel, buoyed by Germans' confidence in her leadership, warned that there was a risk of triggering a resurgence of the coronavirus if people dropped their guard and forgot about social distancing.

"We must work to make sure we bring the number of new infections down further," Merkel said.

"If the infection curve becomes steep again, we need to have a warning system to notice it early and be able to act."

Portugal relaxes lockdown with 'sector-by-sector' plan

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Thursday announced a sector-by-sector plan to gradually lift lockdown measures imposed six weeks ago to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Starting on May 4, the three-phase plan will open up different sectors of the economy every 15 days, starting with small neighbourhood shops, hairdressers, car dealerships and bookshops.

Czechs to allow cultural and sports events 

The Czech government will allow cultural and sport events with up to 100 people to go ahead from May 11 as part of a next phase of relaxing restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, officials said on Thursday.

This will include cinema screenings, theatres performances and religious services, and comes sooner than the government had originally planned after it said the spread of the virus was now contained.

Large events, however, like music festivals due this summer with thousands of people will not take place, Culture Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said.

Turkey's total virus recovery figure nears 49,000

The number of people recovered from the novel coronavirus reached nearly 49,000 in Turkey whereas the death toll stands at 3,174 with 93 new additions in the past 24 hours.

According to a chart Health Minister Fahrettin Koca shared on Twitter, Turkey registered 2,615 new cases, bringing the tally to over 120,000.

On the bright side, a total o f 4,846 people fully recovered from the disease, and the total number of recoveries reached nearly 49,000 as of Thursday.

Aware of the importance of coronavirus testing, Turkish authorities continued to conduct more tests on a daily basis.

In the last 24 hours, over 42,000 additional tests have been conducted, and the total number of tests in the country exceeded one million.

Italy reports largest drop in active cases

Italy on Thursday reported 285 new fatalities from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 27,967, with the largest daily drop in active cases since the beginning of the outbreak.

The tally of active infections fell by 3,106, the biggest drop ever, and now stands at 101,551.

Meanwhile, recoveries continued to climb, jumping to a record 75,945 as more patients left intensive care, easing pressure on Italy's struggling healthcare system.

Canada's curve is flat, worrying trends emerging - top medical officer

Canada's coronavirus curve is flat but some worrying trends are emerging, particularly outbreaks in vulnerable indigenous communities, the country's top medical officer said on Thursday.

The daily death toll in Canada has risen by 10 percent or more only once in the last 11 days. The total number of people killed by the coronavirus increased by 6 percent to 3,082 in a day, official data showed on Thursday.

"This week things have been a little flat - the Covid-19 curve is flat, that is ... we have to be very cautious going down the other side of the epidemic curve," chief public health officer Theresa Tam told a briefing.

France sees lowest weekday death toll rise

The number of people who died of coronavirus infection in France increased by 289 or 1.2 percent to 24,376 on Thursday, the lowest increase on a weekday since end March, government data showed.

On Sunday, only 242 new deaths were reported, but on Sundays the data reporting from nursing homes is often delayed, leading to a catch-up during the week.

Health Ministry chief Jerome Salomon said the number of people in intensive care units fell to 4,019 from 4,207 on Wednesday, down for a 22nd consecutive day.

The number of people i n hospital with coronavirus also fell again to 26,283 from 26,834, also continuing an uninterrupted fall since more than two weeks.

New York governor says may need 'army' of 17,000 to trace contacts of patients

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that he would need an "army" of between 6,400 and 17,000 people to trace the contacts of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as part of a strategy to limit outbreaks.

Cuomo said that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg would, in coordination with Johns Hopkins University, oversee the recruitment and training of these "contact tracers" and make the program available to governments worldwide.

South America's hot spot Brazil tops 80,000 virus cases

Coronavirus infections continue to surge in Latin America as its epicentre Brazil exceeded 80,000 confirmed cases on Thursday.

President Jair Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic has been under fire for some time as his administration is more interested in reopening the economy.

Comoros confirms first official case

Comoros on Thursday announced its first official coronavirus infection, making it the second-last African country to report the novel virus.

"On this day of April 30, 2020, the government declares the first case of Covid-19 on the Comoros," President Azali Assoumani said during an address to the nation.

Singapore reports 528 new cases, death toll rises to 15

Singapore confirmed 528 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its Health Ministry said, taking the city-state's total cases to 16,169.

The Southeast Asian island nation also reported one death, taking the total death toll to 15.

Among the new cases, six are Singaporeans or permanent residents, while 488 cases are foreign workers living in dormitories, the health ministry said.

Namibia re-opens businesses, borders to remain close

Namibia will start to ease nationwide restrictions on movement from next Tuesday, allowing economic activity under strict monitoring, President Hage Geingob said on Thursday

Namibia has so far seen 16 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with no deaths.

New coronavirus not man-made - US intelligence

The US intelligence community said on Thursday it had concluded that the novel coronavirus that has swept the globe originated in China but was not man-made or engineered.

"The entire Intelligence Community has been consistently providing critical support to US policymakers and those responding to the Covid-19 virus, which originated in China," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in a statement.

"The intelligence community also concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the Covid-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified."

Cases, deaths rise in UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait

More coronavirus deaths and cases were reported in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco, and Lebanon on Thursday.

In the UAE, 552 new Covid-19 cases pushed the overall count to 12,481, while the death toll rose by seven to 552.

A total of 2,429 patients in the country have recovered so far.

Kuwait’s Health Ministry confirmed 284 new cases over the past 24 hours, raising the total to 4,024.

Two more fatalities moved the death toll in the country to 26.

The number of cases in Bahrain passed 3,000 on Thursday.

A total of 116 new coronavirus cases pushed the overall count to 3,037, including eight deaths and 1,495 recoveries, the Health Ministry said in a tweet.

In Morocco, 38 more cases raised the total to 4,359, including 969 recoveries and 168 fatalities.

Lebanon's Health Ministry reported four new cases, raising the total to 725, while the death toll remained at 24.

Tajikistan confirms first cases

Tajikistan has confirmed its first 15 coronavirus cases, the healthcare ministry of the central Asian nation said on Thursday, after weeks of being virus-free, despite sharing borders with China and other countries with infections.

Five cases have been confirmed in the capital, Dushanbe, and 10 in the Sughd province that borders Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the ministry said.

Dutch cases rise to 39,316, with 84 new deaths 

The Netherlands' number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen by 514 to 39,316 health authorities said on Thursday, with 84 new deaths.

The country's death toll stands at 4,795, the Netherlands' Institute for Public Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.

The RIVM cautioned it only reports confirmed cases, and actual numbers are higher.

Russia's case tally surges past 100,000

Russia reported 7,099 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a record daily rise, bringing its nationwide tally to 106,498.

The official nationwide death toll rose to 1,073 after 101 people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, Russia's coronavirus crisis response centre said.

Russia this week overtook China and Iran in the number of confirmed cases. Though Russia is rising up the table of nations with the highest number of confirmed cases, it has so far recorded far fewer deaths relative to many of the most hard-hit countries.

Iran death toll from coronavirus rises by 71

The death toll from the outbreak of the new coronavirus increased by 71 in the past 24 to 6,028, Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur said in a statement on state TV.

The total number of diagnosed cases of the new coronavirus in Iran, one of the Middle Eastern countries hardest hit by the outbreak, has reached 94,640, he said. 

Spain's daily death toll fall

The number of fatalities related to the novel coronavirus recorded overnight in Spain fell to 268, the lowest tally in nearly six weeks, the country's health ministry said.

The overall death toll rose to 24,543, up from 24,275 on the previous day, the ministry said. The number of cases registered in the country rose to 213,435 from 212,917 the day before.

Indonesia says infections rise above 10,000

Indonesia confirmed 347 new coronavirus infections, taking the total in the Southeast Asian country above 10,000 for the first time with 10,118 infections, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto said.

Yurianto reported eight new deaths, taking the total of fatalities to 792, while 1,522 have recovered.

More than 72,300 people have been tested.

Malaysia reports 57 new cases

Malaysian health authorities reported 57 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, raising the cumulative total to 6,002 cases.

The health ministry also reported two new deaths, bringing the total fatalities to 102.

Italy to ease curbs on basis of local conditions

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he would gradually relax the country's coronavirus lockdown taking into account differences in contagion levels in different parts of the country.

In a speech to parliament, Conte said a new stimulus package to support the economy, due to be presented in a few days, would include $16.3 billion for companies and 25 billion directly for payroll workers and the self-employed.

The lockdown imposed on March 9 will be gradually rolled back from May 4 and agreed with local authorities "taking account of the regions where the epidemiological situation is less severe," Conte told the lower house of parliament.

However, the prime minister warned regions not to ease restrictions unilaterally, without consultations.

Number of recovered patients exceed 1 million

More than one million people have recovered from the coronavirus worldwide, according to US-based tracker Worldometer.

At the time of publishing, its data showed a total of 1,006,988 people won their battle against the virus. The number of cases has reached 3,229,814, with 228,376 deaths recorded.

The US has the highest number of recoveries, with nearly 147,411 people beating the virus, followed by Spain, which has documented 132,929 recoveries, and Germany, where an estimated 120,400 people have recovered from the disease.

Britain could miss testing target

Britain could miss its target of carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of April, Justice Minister Robert Buckland said.

Some 52,429 tests were carried out on Wednesday, according to the latest figures, putting Britain on course to miss the target set by the health minister.

"Even if it isn't met, we are well on our way to ramping this up," Buckland told BBC television.

Ukraine crosses 10,000 cases

Ukraine now has 10,406 confirmed coronavirus cases and 261 deaths, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov told a briefing.

The government has put lockdown measures in place until May 11 and has said it expects the pandemic to peak in Ukraine early next month.

Thailand reports seven new cases

Thailand reported seven new coronavirus cases but no new deaths, taking its tally to 2,954 cases, while fatalities remained at 54 since the outbreak began in January.

New daily infections have stayed in the single digits for four consecutive days.

Nearly 91 percent of patients have recovered and gone home, leaving 213 still in the hospital, according to Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a spokesman of the government's Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration.

Germany reports 173 more deaths

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen by 1,478 to 159,119, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.

According to the tally, 6,288 people have died of the disease, a rise of 173 compared to Wednesday.

South Korea reports no new domestic cases

South Korea reported no new domestic coronavirus cases for the first time since its February 29 peak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

KCDC reported four new infections, all imported cases, taking the national tally to 10,765. The death toll rose by one to 247.

Yemen reports first two deaths

Yemen reported its first two deaths from Covid-19, its health minister told Yemen TV late.

Yemeni authorities also reported multiple coronavirus infections, five, for the first time, after the UN said it feared the disease could be spreading undetected in a country where millions face famine and lack medical care.

The new cases were reported in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, forcing authorities to impose a three-day, 24-hour curfew. Previously, Yemen had detected only a single case.

International health officials have long warned that Yemen's population could be extremely vulnerable to an outbreak, which would be difficult to detect in a country where health infrastructure has been degraded by poverty and war. 

US Covid-19 deaths double in two weeks 

US deaths from the novel coronavirus topped 60,000, marking a hundred percent increase during the past two weeks with more than a million confirmed cases.

The toll includes 2,502 deaths recorded during the past 24 hours, according to data by the Johns Hopkins University.

New York state, the epicentre of the disease in the country, reported 23,384 deaths and 299,691 cases, followed by New Jersey with 6,771 and 116,365, respectively.

Earlier, a top health official warned that a second wave of the pandemic would be "inevitable."

China reports four new cases compared to 22 a day earlier

China reported four new coronavirus cases, down from 22 a day earlier, data from the country's health authority showed.

All of the cases were imported, the National Health Commission said. It also reported 33 new asymptomatic cases over the day, up from 26 a day earlier.

The total number of confirmed cases has now reached 82,862. With no new deaths, the toll remained at 4,633.

Mexico infections rise to 17,799 cases and 1,732 deaths

Mexico's health ministry reported 1,047 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 163 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 17,799 cases and 1,732 deaths.

The figures were published on the ministry's website.

The government has said the real number of infected people is significantly higher than the confirmed cases.

Panama cases climb to 6,378, deaths reach 178

Confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in Panama reached 6,378, a rise of 178 from the previous day, and deaths climbed by two to 178, the health ministry said.

Director of Epidemiology Lourdes Moreno gave the Central American country's latest data at a news conference.

Trump says he won't extend social distancing guidelines

US President Donald Trump said the federal government will not be extending its coronavirus social distancing guidelines once they expire today, and his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, predicted that by July the country will be “really rocking again”.

Trump also said he plans to resume official travel with a trip to Arizona next week. 

IMF approves $504 million loan for Costa Rica

The IMF board approved $504 million in emergency financing for Costa Rica to help the Central American nation deal with the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Like other countries, Costa Rica imposed nationwide closures to halt the spread of the virus, and those "necessary containment measures, coupled with the global economic downturn, are expected to take a major toll on the economy in the short term", the IMF said in a statement.

The funding will "support essential Covid-19-related health spending and relief measures targeted to the most affected sectors and vulnerable populations".