COVID-19: RECORD 4,591 AMERICANS HAVE DIED LAST 24 HOURS

New York City and its adjoining areas, including New Jersey and Connecticut have emerged as the epicenter of the virus in the US.

Workers wearing personal protective equipment bury bodies in a trench on Hart Island in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

A record number of 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours due to the deadly novel coronavirus in the US, which has the highest number of COVID-19 casualties in the world.

According to the Johns Hopkins University data, by 8 pm on Thursday, as many as 4,591 Americans have died in the last 24 hours, The Wall Street Journal said. The previous highest was 2,569 on Wednesday.

By Thursday, more than 662,000 Americans tested positive with the coronavirus. The dreaded disease, which originated in Wuhan city in China in December last year, has so far claimed more than 144,000 lives and infected over 2.1 million people.

The virus has infected over 671,000 people and claimed more than 33,000 lives, the highest for any country in the world. New York City and its adjoining areas, including New Jersey and Connecticut have emerged as the epicenter of the virus in the US.

New York alone accounts for 226,000 cases of infections and 16,106 deaths. In New Jersey, as many as 3,518 people have died of the disease and 75,317 have tested positive.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, till April 14, four per cent of the Americans infected with COVID-19 were of Asian origin and nearly one-third (30 per cent) were African Americans.

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that experts and scientists report that his strategy to slow the spread of the virus has saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

“Models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million US deaths. If there was no mitigation, it could have even been higher than that and between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. It is looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers,” he said.

Noting that experts say the curve of the virus has flattened, and the peak in the new cases has passed, Trump said that nationwide, more than 850 counties or nearly 30 per cent of the country have reported no new cases in the last seven days.

“Because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen in many other nations, nations which wherever possible we are helping,” he said.

According to Trump, at least 35 clinical trials are already underway, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies, and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. So far, more than 3.5 million tests have been carried out.

Don’t miss these articles on Coronavirusfrom the Explained section:

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Coronavirus Realtime Updates

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Latest update of coronavirus which will both the US and world

PHOTO: President Trump now hopes the US can do 1 Million tests in a week [Source/Twitter]

The latest figures on the coronavirus global pandemic show a severe upsurge and turn of events for the United States of America at a time President Donald Trump is pushing states to reopen the economy.

To begin with, Iet us go through the number of confirmed coronavirus cases for the US and make a genuine comparison to the global data for a better understanding of why the trend should not only worry Americans.

As at 0630 hours (EAT) on Saturday, there were a total of 701,131 confirmed coronavirus cases in the US owing to the robust testing capabilities celebrated by President Trump as having not been done by anywhere else on Earth.

This means, 31.2 per cent of the world's 2,250,751 covid-19 cases are in the United States where a whooping 37,000 people have died from coronavirus.

The number of deaths reported from the pandemic globally is 154,261, with a majority (25 per cent) being recorded from various states under the watch of President Donald Trump.

To break this down further for you, it is important to note that 2 months ago on such a date; February 17, US had recorded only 15 cases of coronavirus and no persons had been confirmed to have died from the virus.

A month later, on March 17, the United States had 6,135 cases, a number that has spiked with vigor to 701,131 today.

Only 8.5 per cent (60,510) of the persons found to have contracted the virus in the USA have recovered. It is also important to note that 24% of the covid-19 patients that are in serious critical condition are in the US.

Below is a break down of what the trend has been like even as President Donald Trump prides in performing better than S. Korea where there are 2,484 active cases as opposed to the USA's 612,353 active coronavirus cases.

Reported US coronavirus cases:

6 weeks ago: 332 cases

5 weeks ago: 2,204 cases

4 weeks ago: 18,763 cases

3 weeks ago: 101,242 cases

2 weeks ago: 277,953 cases

1 week ago: 501,301 cases

Right now: 710,021 cases

PHOTO: A logarithimic scale showing coronavirus global numbers of confirmed cases and deaths [Source/www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/]

Reported US Coronavirus deaths:

Feb. 17: 0 deaths

Mar. 17: 111 deaths

Apr. 17: 37,158 deaths

President Trump, who a number of Americans have praised for having so far, sent USD80 million Americans economic relief payments to vulnerable groups including farmers hopes to start carrying out 1Million tests weekly.

Global figures on tests done on a population of a million people shows his administration has performed way poorer than he has been claiming.

WHO data shows that USA has carried out a total of 3,574,984 tests so far. This means, only 10,800 persons have been tested per every group of a million people in the USA.

Too many states including the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Rusia, Canada, Israel, Australia, Switzerland have done way much better than that.

Coronavirus: WHO warns Africa that it be the next epicenter for the Virus

Updated 7 minutes ago

- World Health Organization (WHO) noted the novel coronavirus was already spreading from capital cities to 'the hinterlands' of African countries

- The organisation noted it was focusing on prevention rather than treatment because African countries did not have enough capacity to treat COVID-19 patients

- As of April 17, Africa as a whole had recorded over 18,700 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 972 deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned that the African continent could become the next epicentre of the global coronavirus pandemic.

The organisation observed there was a significant rise in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa in the past week.

World Health Organization (WHO) noted there was a spike in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the past few weeks. Photo: WHO.

The continent, WHO indicated, did not have enough ventilators yet to deal with a pandemic as grave and complicated as the novel coronavirus.

According to the regional director of WHO Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, the virus was already spreading from the capital cities to “the hinterlands” in South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana.

Moeti noted WHO was now focusing on prevention rather than treating the disease because African countries did not have the capacity to treat many COVID-19 patients.

“We want to minimise the proportion of people who get to the point of needing critical care in an ICU, because we know that these types of facilities are not adequate by any means in the majority of African countries,” she said.

Regional director of WHO Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, indicated WHO was focusing on prevention measures African countries did not have capacity to treat many COVID-19 patients. Photo: Science Africa.

Moeti added she was most worried about the issue of ventilators since they were the biggest challenge that most African countries were grappling with.

As of April 17, the continent of Africa as a whole had recorded over 18,700 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 972 deaths in total.

In other news, the World Bank advised African countries to reopen their borderseven as the coronavirus pandemic continued to affect people globally.

It argued there was an urgent need for the transport of medical supplies, food and other necessities.

The lender revealed as at the end of March 2020, 31 some African countries had closed their borders.

A Business and Financial Times report showed cross-border trade on a small scale helped to provide for about 43% of Africa's population.

Kenyans in China speak out on the discrimination of Africans by Chinese| Tuko TV

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Coronavirus Realtime Updates

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At least 300 000 people are expected to die this year says the UN Agency

The COVID-19 pandemic will likely kill at least 300,000 Africans and risks pushing 29 million into extreme poverty, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said on Friday, calling for a $100 billion safety net for the continent.

Africa’s 54 countries have so far reported fewer than 20,000 confirmed cases of the disease, just a fraction of the more than two million cases reported globally.

But the World Health Organization warned on Thursday that Africa could see as many as 10 million cases in three to six months.

“To protect and build towards our shared prosperity at least $100 billion is needed to immediately resource a health and social safety net response,” the UNECA report stated.

UNECA is also backing a call by African finance ministers for an additional $100 billion in stimulus, which would include a halt to all external debt service.

The agency modelled four scenarios based on the level of preventive measures introduced by African governments.

In the total absence of such interventions, the study calculated over 1.2 billion Africans would be infected and 3.3 million would die this year. Africa has a total population of around 1.3 billion.

Most of Africa, however, has already mandated social distancing measures, ranging from curfews and travel guidelines in some countries to full lockdowns in others.

Yet even its best-case scenario, where governments introduce intense social distancing once a threshold of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 people per week is reached, Africa would see 122.8 million infections, 2.3 million hospitalisations and 300,000 deaths.

Combating the disease will be complicated by the fact that 36% of Africans have no access to household washing facilities, and the continent counts just 1.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. France, in comparison, has 5.98 beds per 1,000 people.

Africa’s young demographic – nearly 60% of the population is below the age of 25 – should help stave off the disease. On the other hand, 56 per cent of the urban population is concentrated in overcrowded slums and many people are also vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malnutrition.

Africa imports 94% of its pharmaceuticals, the report said, noting that at least 71 countries have banned or limited exports of certain supplies deemed essential to fight the disease.

“In a best-case scenario … $44 billion would be required for testing, personal protective equipment, and to treat all those requiring hospitalisation,” it stated.

However, that is money Africa does not have as the crisis could also shrink the continent’s economy by up to 2.6%.

“We estimate that between 5 million and 29 million people will be pushed below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 per day owing to the impact of COVID-19,” the report said.

Nigeria alone will lose between $14 billion and $19.2 billion in revenues from oil exports this year. And the prices of other African commodities exports have plummeted as well.

Lockdowns in Europe and the United States also imperil Africa’s $15 billion in annual textile and apparel exports as well as tourism, which accounts for 8.5% of Africa’s GDP.

Good news for the whole world as China his vaccine is almost ready for us, Discovered in sinovac biotech Beijing

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus started in China, Chinese people have been working day and night to find a vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus; all of us know that, to beat this virus we need to find a solution to stop the spread of COVID-19.

According to Aljaazira, 

"China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental coronavirus vaccines as it battles to contain imported cases and prevent a second wave of COVID-19"

Sinovac Biotech is a Beijing based company and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group, are on their way for our first human trials.

Even though, the World still going through this ordeal; Chinese and the rest of the World are not sleeping. A vaccine produce in China is what we need right now, Coronavirus has corner the World; it has destroy our way of life.
It is going to be success, I have a good feeling about this vaccine; we still have hope that we will eradicate this virus and it will be a think of the pass very soon

China has been warned that after this coronavirus pandemic as usual it won't return to business

REUTERS/Aly Song

• China warned that it cannot return to "business as usual" with the international community after the coronavirus pandemic.
• UK First Minister of State Dominic Raab said the world would have to investigate how the outbreak started in China.
• The UK government has previously thrown doubt on China's claims about the outbreak.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The UK has warned China that it cannot return to "business as usual" after the coronavirus pandemic.

UK First Minister of State Dominic Raab told a press conference on Thursday that the international community must investigate the origins of the outbreak in China.

"There absolutely needs to be a very deep dive on lessons including on the outbreak of the virus and I don't think we can flinch from that at all," Raab said.

Asked if there would be a "reckoning" with China after the crisis ends, he replied that: "There's no doubt that we can't have business as usual after this crisis and we have to ask the hard questions about how it came about and how it could have been stopped earlier."

He added: "We'll look very carefully with other international partners at how this outbreak happened."

Most scientists believe the coronavirus originated from a market in the Wuhan province in China.

However, sources in the UK government have reportedly examined the possibilitythat the virus may have accidentally leaked from a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan where scientists were researching viruses, according to a Mail on Sunday newspaper report.

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"There is a credible alternative view [to the zoonotic theory] based on the nature of the virus," a member of the UK government's emergency committee of senior officials, Cobra, told the newspaper.

They added: "Perhaps it is no coincidence that there is that laboratory in Wuhan. It is not discounted."

The Mail on Sunday also quoted government figures as suggesting that the real number of cases in China could be up to 40 times larger than officially stated.

The UK government has also publicly thrown doubt on China's claims about the virus.

On March 29, the UK Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, told the BBC he was skeptical of China's official virus numbers.

"The first case of coronavirus in China was established in December of last year, but it was also the case that some of the reporting from China was not clear about the scale, the nature, the infectiousness of this," he said.

A report by the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee last month also accused the Chinese government of spreading disinformation about the virus' spread.

"Disinformation about COVID-19 has already cost lives," the committee said.

"It is essential that the Government issues clear and transparent messages at home to confront and rebut disinformation spread by foreign powers."

Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please emailcovidtips@businessinsider.com and tell us your story.

Get the latest coronavirus business & economic impact analysis from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.

Read more on seekcrip it's your News

Coronavirus: Some social distancing needed 'until vaccine found'

• 16 April 2020

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Image copyrightPA MEDIA

The UK must maintain some form of social distancing until a coronavirus vaccine is found, a scientist advising the government has said.

Prof Neil Ferguson told the BBC there was "little leeway" to relax measures without "something... in their place" - such as testing and contact-tracing.

A three-week extension to the lockdown is expected to be announced later.

Labour said it would support an extension, but called for details on how and when the lockdown will end.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced strict curbs on life in the UK on 23 March, as the government sought to limit the spread of the virus.

Ministers are required by law to assess whether the rules are working, based on expert advice, every three weeks.

The government - led by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as Mr Johnson continues to recover from the virus - will detail the outcome of the first assessment at the daily Downing Street news conference later.

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Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Prof Ferguson, of Imperial College London, said easing the lockdown after another three weeks would depend on "how quickly case numbers go down".

He said that required "a single-minded emphasis" in government and the health system on "scaling up testing and putting in place the ability to track down cases in the community and contact-trace".

Prof Ferguson added: "Without that, our estimates show we have relatively little leeway; if we relax measures too much then we'll see a resurgence of transmission.

"What we really need is the ability to put something in their place. If we want to open schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner.

"And I should say, it's not going to be going back to normal. We will have to maintain some level of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available."

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Prof Ferguson said he believed the "daily number of infections peaked two weeks ago", but said it was "too early to relax".

Asked whether the government is moving towards having a lockdown exit strategy in place, Prof Ferguson said he would like to see "action accelerated" and called for more infrastructure.

"I'm reminded by the fact we had a Department for Brexit for government - that was a major national emergency, as it were - and we're faced with something which is, at the moment, even larger than Brexit and yet I don't see quite the same evidence for that level of organisation," he said.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, told Today that Prof Ferguson was not seeing such action behind the scenes in government "because he advises government, he's not in the government".

He said that ministers would "not be distracted" into confusing its "core" message to stay at home and protect the NHS.

"How we communicate as a government has a direct impact on the amount of cases that we have and therefore the amount of people who die," Mr Hancock said.

"We talk about what is needed now and when we need to change that we will."

Earlier, the health secretary told BBC Breakfast he believed the government had been clear "we think it too early to make a change".

Mr Hancock said he did not want to put the "good effort" of the public to waste by ending the lockdown too early, adding that releasing all measures now would let the virus "run rampant".

His comments come after the UK's chief medical adviser, Prof Chris Whitty, warned of a possible "bounce" in the numbers soon, due to delays in reporting deaths over the Easter weekend.

The health secretary is due to meet the first ministers of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales later ahead of making a formal decision on the lockdown.

All the indications are that the UK is hitting the peak of coronavirus cases. The number of patients in hospital with coronavirus seems to be levelling out.

There are more than 10,000 beds on general wards available and another 2,000 spaces in intensive care.

It is this headroom that prompted NHS Providers, which represents hospital bosses, to declare this week that it was "increasingly" confident the health service could cope.

But the government's advisers will no doubt be advising ministers that the lockdown should continue - because they fear any lifting of restrictions at this stage could undo the good work, and see a spike in cases that would gobble up that spare capacity and overwhelm the health service.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth told BBC Breakfast he expected the lockdown to be extended for a further three weeks, and that the party would back an extension.

But he called for clarity from the government about "what happens next" and for a move to a "testing and contact-tracing strategy" to exit the lockdown.

Ministers in Scotland and Wales have already said their lockdowns are set to remain in place, while Northern Ireland's Arlene Foster confirmed the NI lockdown will be extended until 9 May.

According to the latest figures, 12,868 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for the virus in the UK.

In other developments:

• The head of the IMF has suggested the UK and the EU should consider extending the deadline to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal beyond the end of the year
• A proposal to set up a virtual Parliament is expected to be endorsed by the House of Commons authorities this morning
• The baby of a "highly valued and loved" nurse has been delivered successfully after the 28-year-old died with Covid-19
• British Retail Consortium figures show retail sales in the UK declined at the worst rate on record last month, when the lockdown was imposed
• The toll of isolation on people's mental health is expected to be "profound", experts have said
• Dominic Raab is to take part in a "virtual summit" of G7 leaders hosted by US President Donald Trump, after the president announced he was cutting US funding for the World Health Organization
• War veteran Tom Moore, 99, has raised more than £12m for the NHS by doing a sponsored walk in his garden

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