COVID-19: Six latest developments globally

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis.

– Pandemic ‘worsening’: WHO –

The World Health Organization says that the pandemic situation is worsening around the globe and warns against complacency.

“Although the situation in Europe is improving, globally it is worsening,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says.

As mass protests for racial justice sweep across the United States and beyond, the United Nations’ health agency urges anyone demonstrating to do so safely.

– More than 404,000 deaths –

The pandemic has killed more than 404,245 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1900 GMT on Monday, based on official sources.

More than seven million cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 110,771 deaths, followed by Britain with 40,597, Brazil with 36,455, Italy with 33,964 and France with 29,209 fatalities.

Coronavirus

– Worst economic crisis for 150 years –

The coronavirus pandemic inflicted a “swift and massive shock” that has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870 despite unprecedented government support, the World Bank says.

It says in its latest Global Economic Prospects report that the world economy is expected to contract by 5.2 percent this year and the pandemic will drive 70-100 million people into extreme poverty.

– United States in recession –

The United States economy entered recession in February, ending 128 months of expansion amid a brutal downturn caused by the pandemic, the authority competent to make the determination says.

“The unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession,” the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) says.

Meanwhile, New York City – the epicentre of America’s coronavirus outbreak – begins partially reopening its shattered economy following almost three months of lockdown.

– Moscow lockdown to end –

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announces the end on Tuesday of a strict lockdown that has been in place since the end of March in the Russian capital.

“Moscow is returning to the usual rhythm of life”, he says of the epicentre of the pandemic in Russia, with around half of the country’s 476,658 virus infections.

– Britain lowest daily toll since March –

Britain records its lowest daily death toll in more than two months, with 55 coronavirus deaths in the previous 24 hours, and Scotland now going two days without a fatality.

Figures on Mondays are usually lower due to a reporting lag from weekends.