Published 17 Apr 2020
The global coronavirus death toll passed 140,000, with nearly two thirds of all fatalities in Europe, according to an AFP tally Thursday at 1800 GMT. In total, 140,902 people have died of the virus, including 92,900 in Europe, the hardest hit continent in the world.
There are now more than 2.1 million recorded infections globally, nearly half of which are in Europe. The United States has the most deaths with 31,590 fatalities, followed by Italy with 22,170 and Spain’s 19,130. The tallies were collated using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Hopes that its spread has peaked in Europe and the United States has seen some countries take tentative steps to loosen restrictions, with US President Donald Trump set to unveil plans on Thursday for lifting lockdowns across the world’s top economy.
But with global cases and deaths still growing—and fears of a second wave of infections in previously hit countries—officials are warning that life around the world will not be returning to normal any time soon. “We remain in the eye of the storm,” the WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said in an online news conference from Copenhagen. Positive signs in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland were overshadowed by sustained or increased levels of infections in other countries, such as Britain, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, he said. “It is imperative that we do not let down our guard.” After reporting 861 new deaths on Thursday, Britain extended its lockdown measures for another three weeks. ( PTI )
