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British PM in intensive care as global virus deaths soar

PTI   

British PM in intensive care as global virus deaths soar
London, Apr 7 (AFP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson battled the coronavirus in intensive care on Tuesday as death tolls in the United States and Europe reached new heights from the pandemic sweeping the world.

His case has highlighted the global reach of COVID-19, which has put more than half of the planet on some form of lockdown, upended societies and wrecked economies worldwide.

The disease's relentless march across the planet has now claimed more than 75,500 lives out of more than 1.35 million confirmed cases, with warnings that much worse is yet to come.

The number of daily deaths in Spain shot up to 743 on Tuesday, after France on Monday recorded a new surge of 833 fatalities and Italy saw its death toll rise after days of dropping.

New research showed Britain's toll on a steeper trajectory than other nations and predicted as many as 66,000 deaths there by July, far more than Italy.

Johnson himself was moved into intensive care when his condition worsened 10 days after his diagnosis. His spokesman said he was stable overnight and "remains in good spirits".Sweden, which has not imposed extraordinary lockdown orders seen elsewhere in Europe, reported another 114 deaths, bringing its total to 591.And the United States -- which has by far the most number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world -- recorded 1,150 deaths over 24 hours, Johns Hopkins University said.- 'Not the time to be lax' -============================There were however glimmers of hope in the daily diet of deadly statistics.Spain said its downward trend in new infections and deaths was continuing and that increases in fatalities on Monday and Tuesday were the result of weekend deaths being tallied.In China, where the virus originated late last year, there were no new deaths reported for the first time, just a day before it plans to lift travel curbs from the contagion's epicentre of Wuhan.In New York state, the US epicentre of the crisis, the rate of growth in the death toll appeared to be slowing, although state Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that "now is not the time to be lax"."New York City is fighting back. We have an invisible enemy. We have a ferocious enemy. But this city is fighting back with everything we've got," said mayor Bill de Blasio.The virus is stretching medical facilities to the limit and the World Health Organization warned there was a global shortage of six million nurses.

People around the world have been forced to improvise as supplies run short, with bodies packed in cardboard coffins in Ecuador and a mosque converted into a makeshift mask factory in Iran.

Undertakers in New York are so overworked that a city official raised the possibility of carrying out temporary burials in a public park.

"Trenches will be dug for 10 caskets in a line. It will be done in a dignified, orderly and temporary manner. But it will be tough for NYers to take," tweeted Mark Levine.

New York City funeral home director Pat Marmo said he was dealing with three times more bodies than normal.

"It's almost like 9/11, going on for days and days and days," he said.

As hospitals overflow, the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan is being converted to handle at least 200 patients beneath its stained-glass windows.

"In earlier centuries, cathedrals were always used this way, like during the plague. So this is not outside the experience of being a cathedral, it is just new to us," cathedral dean Clifton Daniel told the New York Times.

Governments around the world are scrambling to put together rescue packages to stem the economic damage from effectively shutting down global commerce, as fears loom of a devastating recession.

In Brussels, the EU announced it would put up 15 billion euros ($16.4 billion) to help poor countries with weak health systems tackle the impact of COVID-19 and help with long-term economic recovery.

Japan, which declared a month-long state of emergency on Tuesday, has promised a $1-trillion stimulus package, a staggering 20 percent of GDP in the world's third-largest economy.

With the ink barely dry on a $2-trillion economic rescue package passed by Congress, US President Donald Trump said he favoured another massive spending programme, again roughly $2 trillion, but this time targeting infrastructure projects.

"We built the greatest economy in the world. I'll do it a second time," he said.France has warned it is heading for its worst recession since World War II and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union was facing its "biggest test" since its founding in 1957.EU finance ministers are expected to clinch a deal on Tuesday to use the eurozone's 410-billion-euro bailout fund to fight the virus but the bloc remains divided on pooling debt to issue "coronabonds".Mario Centeno, the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, urged them to agree to a "bold response" and "sizeable recovery plan".

Stock markets have chosen to see the glass as half-full so far this week, with the Dow Jones index soaring 1,600 points on Monday as traders saw hope the pandemic was reaching its apex.

Markets were also up across Asia and in Europe on Tuesday.

But away from the multi-billion packages and Wall Street swings, the coronavirus is affecting millions of ordinary people trying to make ends meet. (AFP) PMSPMS


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