The coronavirus tally in India crossed the 50,000 mark to stand at 52,952 on Thursday, with over 3,500 cases reported since Wednesday. The death toll in the country reached 1,783.
India will operate 64 flights until May 13 and use three Navy ships starting today, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, to bring home nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas amid coronavirus pandemic. The first of the 64 flights will carry 209 passengers from Abu Dhabi to Cochin International Airport today, while another flight will bring citizens from Dubai to Calicut airport and one from Singapore to the Delhi International airport.
There are 3.75 million confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The number of confirmed cases stood at 3,755,341 on Thursday, with 263,831 deaths.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the country will consider easing restrictions to “Level 2” after the country reported zero cases for over two days. “Alert Level 2 will see significantly more activity open up across the country requiring New Zealanders to play it safe and remain vigilant so the virus doesn’t bounce back,” the government announced in a statement. It would include allowing for gatherings of up to 100 people, reports The Guardian.
US President Donald Trump took a u-turn from his comments he made yesterday as he said the White House coronavirus taskforce would “continue on indefinitely”. The president said he “had no idea how popular the taskforce is.” Trump has again suggested the country may need to accept the reality of more deaths in order to start reopening the economy.“We have to be warriors,” Trump told Fox News’ John Roberts when asked if Americans should expect additional deaths as the country looks to reopen. “We can’t keep our country closed down for years.”
As the countries plan to ease restrictions, the World Health Organisation has warned of more lockdowns if transition not managed carefully. The director general of the World Health Organization warns of the risks of returning to lockdown if countries emerging from pandemic restrictions do not manage transitions “extremely carefully and in a phased approach”.