The COVID-19 infections in India neared 82,000 mark on Friday as state governments prepared to share their draft proposals on exit strategies with the Centre ahead of the end of the third phase of lockdown on May 17. With a spike of 3,967 Coronavirus cases and 100 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total infections rose to 81,970 and 2,649 fatalities, according to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Of the total cases, 51,401 are active while 27,920 people have been cured of the deadly infection.
The World Bank approved a special economic package worth $1 million to support India’s fight against the pandemic.
The global toll from COVID-19 has passed 300,000, with nearly 4.5 million people infected. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, at least 302,452 people have now died as a result of the outbreak. The institution says it has counted 4,443,597 confirmed cases worldwide.
China, where the virus was first reported in December last year, has gone a month without announcing any new deaths from the coronavirus. The National Health Commission reported four new cases of the virus on Friday, all local cross-infections in the northeastern province of Jilin where a cluster of uncertain origin has been detected in recent days, reports The Guardian.
US President Donald Trump signalled a further deterioration of his relationship with China over the novel coronavirus, saying he has no interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping right now and going so far as to suggest he could even cut ties with the world’s second largest economy. The diplomatic relations of the two countries have hit a rough patch since the pandemic broke out.
The United States has been the worst affected country in terms of infections, deaths, and economy. 36 million Americans have been left unemployed amidst the lockdown measures to curb the virus. The latest figures from the Department of Labor show the rate of claims is slowing but the record-breaking pace of layoffs has already pushed unemployment to levels unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.