PARIS, May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with more than 4.6 million confirmed cases in 188 countries. More than 309,000 people have lost their lives.
UNITED STATES: The United States recorded 820 new coronavirus fatalities in the previous 24 hours, but the country’s total death count neared 90,000, a Johns Hopkins University tracker reported.
The latest toll, marked at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Monday), was the lowest since 776 daily deaths were recorded on May 10, but the count ranged as high as 1,894 in subsequent days.
According to the real-time tracker by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins, the United States has 1,486,376 cases of novel coronavirus.
LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN: Latin America and the Caribbean have recorded more than half a million coronavirus infections, according to official reports.
Almost half have been recorded in Brazil — the country worst-hit by the pandemic in the region — which also has more than 15,000 deaths.
PERU: Peru said it will construct a fast-build hospital in the Amazon as it seeks to respond to a growing COVID-19 emergency sweeping through the indigenous population.
State social security body EsSalud said it expects the 100-bed hospital in Pucallpa, capital of the remote Ucayali region on the border with Brazil, to be operational within three weeks.
The government said it would rush 220 healthworker reinforcements to the Amazon.
Prime Minister Gustavo Zeballos said the government would ensure the supply of oxygen and other vital medical materials via “an air and land bridge” to the region.
Desperate COVID-19 patients have been dying in the region’s hospitals for lack of oxygen, officials say.
More than 2,250 cases of Peru’s COVID-19 cases have been registered in Loreto, with 95 deaths, according to official figures.
Loreto, which borders Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, is the largest and least populated region in Peru but also the worst affected by the pandemic.
Church authorities in Iquitos have organized a public collection to acquire another plant to provide oxygen bottles for local hospitals.
ITALY: Italy on Sunday recorded the fewest deaths from coronavirus in one day since its two-month lockdown began, as the country stands poised to reopen most commercial activity.
The civil protection unit said 145 people had died of the virus in the last 24 hours, the lowest level since March 9, when 97 people died of Covid-19.
Italy’s worst one-day death toll from the virus was on March 27, with 969 deaths.
SPAIN: Spain on Sunday reported 87 coronavirus deaths over a 24-hour period, the first time in two months that the daily toll has dropped below 100.
The number came a day before Spain is to further relax lockdown measures across the country, except in Madrid and Barcelona.
At the height of the current outbreak in early April, Spain counted 950 deaths in one day.
Spain remains one of the countries hardest hit by the virus with a total of 27,650 deaths, the health ministry reported on Sunday. The number of confirmed cases is more than 231,000.
FRANCE: Deaths from the new coronavirus in France passed 28,000 Sunday, the health ministry announced, as officials tried to contain outbreaks in two abattoirs.
The latest daily toll, of 483, the largest in several weeks, was made up mainly of deaths in care homes: 429 deaths, compared to only 54 in hospital.
Those numbers took France’s total number of deaths from the virus to 28,108.
Since the virus arrived in France, 98,569 people have been hospitalised, of whom 17,500 had to be treated in intensive care. More than 61,000 have recovered and been allowed home.
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa on Sunday reported 1,160 new coronavirus infections, the highest daily number since the first case was recorded in March, data released by the health ministry showed.
“As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 15,515 with 1,160 new cases identified in the last 24 hour cycle of testing,” said the ministry statement.
The numbers of deaths rose by three to 263 from Saturday.
Africa’s most industrialised economy has the highest numbers of infections in Africa, followed by Egypt which has so far recorded 11,719 COVID-19 cases, including 612 deaths. — NNN-AGENCIES