Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:
Global deaths pass 40,000
Data collected by Johns Hopkins University researchers show at least 40,636 people have died across the world, while 174,019 people have recovered after becoming infected.
The institution says that at least 823,479 people have been infected. Both the US and Italy have recorded more than 100,000 cases, while Spain is nearing that figure. All have more cases than China, where the outbreak began.
UK sees largest one-day increase in deaths
A total of 1,789 patients have died in UK hospitals after testing positive as of 5pm on Monday (BST), the country’s Department of Health and Social Care says. That is up 381 from 1,408 on the previous 24 hours and represents a 27% day-on-day increase – by far the biggest so far. It also emerges that dozens of virus-linked death that occurred outside hospitals have not hitherto counted in the official figures.
The health department also says that, as of 9am on Tuesday, a total of 143,186 people have been tested, with 25,150 testing positive.
US deaths now exceed those in China
Monday was the deadliest day yet for the US, which has now lost more than 3,400 people. The figures mean the coronavirus death toll has now surpassed that of the 11 September terror attacks and is greater than that of China – 3,309.
Nearly half of the deaths attributed to the outbreak have occurred in New York, although the state’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, has warned other states may soon see a similar rate of Covid-19 cases and deaths as it was confirmed his brother has tested positive.
Italy death toll rises by 837
A total of 12,428 people are now known to have died in the southern European country; the world’s worst national death toll. Some 77,635 are currently infected with an increase of 2,107 new cases on Tuesday, 459 more than Monday. In the last 24 hours 1,109 have recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 15,729.
Worst FTSE quarter since 1987
The FTSE 100 posts its worst quarter since autumn 1987 as it closes for the night at 5671 points (up 108 points, or 1.95% today). That means it has shed 24.8% of its value in the last three months.
That’s its second-worst quarter since being created in 1984 – only beaten by the wild slump in autumn 1987 when the Black Monday stock market crash struck.
More than 1,000 have now died in the Netherlands
The number of deaths in the Netherlands resulting from the epidemic rises by 175 to 1,039. The number of confirmed infections has increased by 845 to 12,595, the Netherlands’ National Institute for Health (RIVM) says.
Sierra Leone confirms first case
The president of the west African nation says a 37-year-old man who traveled from France on 16 March and has been in isolation ever since has tested positive. “When I did my first coronavirus press conference, I said that it was not a matter of if, but when. Well, ‘when’ has come,” Julius Maada Bio said.
UK shows early signs of flattening the curve
The NHS needs everyone to play their part in reducing transmission of the virus, the medical director of NHS England Stephen Powis says, as signs emerge that physical distancing measures are beginning to work.
But he warns: “It is really important not to read too much because it is really early days. We are not out of the woods, we are very much in the woods. So green shoots but only green shoots and we must not be complacent and we must not take our foot off the pedal.”
‘Stay healthy!’ US urges Americans left behind in Pakistan
A US government-arranged flight is to leave Islamabad in Pakistan on Wednesday night to repatriate Americans in the country. But not all US nationals will be on it. Their embassy’s advice to them while they await a plan to get them home is: “Stay healthy!”
Ireland: confirmed cases of coronavirus halve
Ireland’s daily growth rate in confirmed cases of coronavirus has halved. Ireland on Monday confirmed 295 new cases, the second highest daily number, bringing the total to 2,910. It recorded eight deaths, bringing the death toll to 54. Northern Ireland has 533 confirmed cases and 22 deaths.
