Global COVID-19 death toll nears 3 million as India cases surge
17 April, 2021
The global coronavirus death toll was expected to reach 3 million on Saturday (Apr 17), as the race for immunisation continues and countries such as for example India grapple with rising infections and new lockdowns.
The virus that surfaced in late 2019 in central China and the ensuing pandemic has infected a lot more than 100 million people, leaving billions more under crippling lockdowns and ravaging the global economy.
INDIA REPORTS ANOTHER RECORD DAILY INCREASE
Hopes that South Asian countries may have seen the worst of the pandemic have been dashed, with India recording a lot more than 2 million new cases this month alone and Bangladesh and Pakistan imposing new shutdowns.
India reported a record daily increase of 234,692 COVID-19 infections over the last a day, health ministry data showed on Saturday.
It had been the eighth record daily upsurge in the last nine days.
Total cases reached almost 14.5 million, second and then the United States which includes reported a lot more than 32 million infections.
India's deaths from COVID-19 rose by 1,341 to attain a total of 175,649, the data showed.
New Delhi, India's capital, went right into a weekend lockdown on Saturday.
In Japan, rising virus cases have stoked speculation that the Olympic Games - postponed this past year as a result of pandemic - could be cancelled.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, in his first ending up in US President Joe Biden, said his government was hearing experts and doing its "utmost" to get ready for the Tokyo games in July.
"They are doing everything possible to contain infection and realise safe and sound games from scientific and objective perspectives," Suga told a joint news conference, of which Biden backed Japan's efforts to host the global event.
The Gulf kingdom is in talks with coronavirus vaccine makers to make sure all fans attending the 2022 World Cup in the united states have already been vaccinated, its foreign minister said Friday.
The virus continues to impact events elsewhere in the world.
On Saturday, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II bids your final farewell to her late husband, Prince Philip, at a funeral restricted by coronavirus and likely watched by millions from afar.
The general public has been asked to remain away as a result of the global pandemic.
"CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM" IN EUROPE
In Brazil, the country with the third-highest death toll on earth, night shifts have been put into several cemeteries as diggers work night and day to bury the dead.
Among these is Vila Formosa, the major cemetery in Latin America and a showcase for the lethal cost of the pandemic in Brazil, where a lot more than 360,000 persons have died from COVID-19.
Regardless of the high infection rate, the government of Brazil's most populous state Sao Paulo announced it will allow businesses and places of worship to reopen from Sunday.
But there is better news in Europe, where some countries are easing their lockdowns in response never to only fatigue, but falling infection numbers and progress with vaccinations.
Italy announced Friday it will ease coronavirus restrictions for schools and restaurants from Apr 26.
Expressing "cautious optimism", Prime Minister Mario Draghi said his government was going for a "calculated risk".
Italy may also allow up to a thousand spectators at outdoor events from May 1, when it eases its stadium fan ban in regions less afflicted by the coronavirus.
In more good news for Brits following the partial reopening of society this week, Germany on Friday removed the uk from the set of risk zones for coronavirus infections, meaning that travellers will no longer need to quarantine after arrival.
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