Another horror day of the coronavirus pandemic saw the global death toll pass 94,000, although there were tentative signs of hope that the crisis was peaking in the United States and Europe.
The picture of the unfolding economic catastrophe also became clearer with the IMF warning of a Great Depression and data showing 17 million Americans lost their jobs, but a European Union financial rescue package agreement offered some relief to the barrage of bad news.
Another 1,700 people died in the United States on Thursday, while there were hundreds more deaths across Europe, driving the confirmed global toll above 94,000.
Nearly half of all pandemic fatalities have occurred over the past week.
But authorities in worst-hit Europe and the United States said a slight decline in daily deaths and infections gave reason to hope the worst could be over.
“The fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, where fatalities inched down to 683 from 757 a day before, pushing that country’s total above 15,000.
“Our priority now is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting point, not to lower our guard.”
France also reported that 82 fewer people were in intensive care for COVID-19 — the first fall since the pandemic broke out.
And Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top pandemic expert, said the United States was “going in the right direction”.
The US recorded 1,783 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 0030 GMT Friday, lower than the previous day’s record toll of 1,973.
The US has seen more than 16,500 confirmed deaths, the second-highest tally in the world after Italy, and more than 460,000 confirmed cases.
In New York, the epicentre of the virus in the United States, only 200 more people entered hospitals, the lowest number since the pandemic struck, even though 799 people died over the last day, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
“We are flattening the curve by what we are doing,” Cuomo said, adding, “We have to keep the curve flat.”
But he declined to predict how New York would fare in the coming weeks, telling reporters bluntly: “I have no idea.”
Further lifting spirits, the health improved of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the highest profile of the 1.5 million people infected by the virus, and he ended three days of intensive care.
However Britain announced another 881 deaths on Thursday, taking the total to nearly 8,000.

‘A Europe that protects’

On the economic front, Europe attempted a fightback with EU finance ministers agreeing in late-night talks to a 500 billion-euro ($550 billion) rescue package aimed at reducing pain across the 27-nation bloc, especially hardest-hit Italy and Spain.
“Europe has decided and is ready to meet the gravity of the crisis,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tweeted after the talks.
He warned earlier in the day that France’s economy was expected to shrink six percent this year, even with the country’s own 100-billion-euro relief plan.
The US Federal Reserve threw its own fresh lifeline to Americans, with chairman Jerome Powell announcing a $2.3 trillion financing measure “to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity.”
The International Monetary Fund said 170 of its 180 members would see declines in per capita income this year — just a few months after predictions that nearly all would enjoy growth.
“We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” said IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, urging governments to provide lifelines to businesses and households alike.

Developing world fears

And despite hopeful signs in Western nations as well as in China, where the virus was first detected late last year, there are fears the worst is still to come in much of the developing world.
War-torn Yemen, which has been experiencing one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises, on Friday reported its first case.
Brazilian authorities Thursday confirmed the first deaths in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where crowding and poor sanitation have raised fears of a catastrophe.
There are similar fears in India, where hundreds of millions of poor people are becoming increasingly desperate.
“I keep hearing that the government will do this and that. No one has even come to see if we are alive or dead,” Rajni Devi, a mother of three, told AFP in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi.
In a move to build international solidarity over the crisis, Germany on Thursday led a videoconference session of the UN Security Council on the pandemic.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the session by calling the pandemic “the fight of a generation — and the raison d’etre of the United Nations itself.”
Guterres appealed for a global halt to conflicts to concentrate on the COVID-19 fight.
Saudi Arabia embraced the call by announcing a unilateral pause in its brutal offensive against rebels who control much of Yemen.
US President Donald Trump said he spoke Thursday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and thought they were near a deal to end an oil price war that has thrown further uncertainties into the global economy.
OPEC announced Friday that major oil producers except Mexico had agreed to cut output.
– AFP

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

与奥巴马合照、英超球会收购风波女主角 竟也是共青团员?

因宣布要收购英超球会“喜鹊”纽卡斯尔(Newcastle),贝拉格夫维新集团(Bellagraph Nova Group,以下简称BN集团),一时引起轰动,不料却被踢爆,原本该集团中国女商人沈屮(chè)、本地商人罗尔伟和罗弥伦,与奥巴马合影竟是造假! 该集团在本月22日,承认对有关与奥巴马合影“动过手脚”作为宣传材料。奥巴马去年12月在新加坡出席一场慈善晚宴,与沈屮交谈的一张照片,背后的黑色背景竟被加上BN集团标志,以及把本地商人罗尔伟Terence Loh,也修进照片中,坐在奥巴马右侧: 据《海峡时报》报道,BN集团是今年6月成立的投资集团,由沈屮(evangeline shen)的贝拉格夫集团(Bellagraph Group)以及本地商人堂兄弟罗尔伟和罗弥伦的Lohs Dorr Group合并而成。 被卷入篡改照片风波,BN集团称照片是“一名犯错的个人所为,而且这人可能存有恶意”,并委任独立律师调查这起事件。 中国女商人沈屮,毕业自名校复旦大学和人民大学,2011年通过律师资格考试,2012年取得律师资格;在2017年的一次采访,沈屮被形容来自具影响力家庭,丈夫与家人从事宝石生意已有时日。…

保龄球好手陈诗桦 夺世界女子保龄球锦标大师赛金牌

新加坡保龄球总会分享喜讯,我国保龄球好手陈诗桦,在昨日于美国拉斯维加斯举行的世界女子保龄球锦标赛,夺得金牌。 陈诗桦也是我国首位夺得上述赛事大师赛金牌的保龄球手。 在大师赛决赛中,她以两局203比201、258比217,打败对手哥伦比亚首号球员玛丽亚·罗德里格斯,夺得冠军。后者在两日的赛事中都一直领先,总排名5488,陈诗桦以5376名排名第五。 共34国180名保龄球好手角逐上述赛事。 陈诗桦过去的战绩包括2015年在阿布扎比赛事夺得个人赛和三人赛两枚银牌;双人赛得银牌。

罗拔申码头多人聚集引争议 马善高称聚集者非新加坡公民

日前,有网友爆料罗拔申码头处聚集多人,甚至有人不戴口罩、或近距离交流喝酒引起争议,环境及水源部长马善高表示,警方已追踪聚集在该地区的部分人群,而这些人并非新加坡公民,目前正在接受警方调查。 网民Lectress Pat周末(5月16日)在脸书上分享了数张来自友人的照片,照片显示不少人聚集在罗拔申码头一带,跑步聊天甚至没有戴口罩和保持社交距离。 其中一张照片中,可见三个人在一家酒吧外喝酒聊天,且都没有用口罩遮盖口鼻。 网民表示,当时在亚历山大公园连道,有两名执法人员和一名警员驻守,但是在五分钟路程外的罗拔申码头却没有执法人员驻守。更甚的是,该区的餐饮业者也没有劝阻在该处饮酒聊天的人们,也没有把摆放在外的站立式桌子收起。 这致使网民质疑这是否是“双重标准”? 对此,环境及水源部长马善高在昨日(18日),通过脸书澄清,市区重建局一直在该地区巡逻,大部分的业者与居民都有遵守社交距离,但由于部分餐厅售卖外带酒水,导致餐厅外聚集了部分人群。 因此市区重建局也于5月17日禁止出售外带酒水。对于有意违反措施的行为,当局将严正以待,采取严厉的执法行动。 市区重建局敦促人民应该要遵守法律,以遏制冠状病毒19的蔓延,一旦发现任何违法行为,请勿将仅将照片上传至网络,应该通过政府的OneService应用程序,配以具体细节和照片,进行举报。

Budget 2020: Enhanced MOE Financial Assistance Scheme for students

The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Financial Assistance Scheme will be enhanced by…