Coronavirus Global Latest Updates, April 21: US to temporarily suspend immigration; UNGA passes Covid-19 resolution

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Global Latest Updates: The death toll in the US stood at more than 40,000, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. Massachusetts has emerged as a hotspot in the last few weeks, with over 1,700 fatalities.




Coronavirus Global Latest Updates: The coronavirus pandemic, which emerged from China’s Wuhan in December,  has so far infected 2,475,871 people till now, with the US reporting the highest number of cases at 786,638 followed by Spain (200,210), Italy (181,228), France (156,480) and Germany (147,065).

The death toll in the US stood at more than 40,000, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker. Massachusetts has emerged as a hotspot in the last few weeks, with over 1,700 fatalities. New York, with the worst outbreak in the nation, reported that hospitalisations in the state had leveled off and the day’s death toll, at 478, was the lowest in three weeks, down from a peak of nearly 800.

China reported another 11 coronavirus cases Tuesday, including six in the province of Heilongjiang that borders Russia. No new deaths were reported, with the total remaining at 4,632 among 82,758 cases. South Korea has reported nine new infections of the coronavirus and one more death. Its case count stands at 10683 and fatalities at 237.

The World Health Organization has advised that governments and societies around the world remain vigilant in order to stop the transmission of coronavirus, saying the lifting of lockdowns and other measures needs to be done gradually.

US to ‘temporarily suspend’ immigration amid coronavirus crisis

US President Donald Trump Monday said he will temporarily suspend all immigration to the US in response to the coronavirus pandemic and in order to protect US jobs.

Trump announced the decision on Twitter saying that the decision has been taken to “protect the US workforce” as millions of Americans are suffering from unemployment due to the nationwide lockdown to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Sri Lanka postpones its parliamentary elections amid COVID-19 outbreak

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka has postponed the parliamentary elections for nearly two months in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. On 2 March, President Gotabaya Rajapaksha dissolved the parliament 6 months ahead of its schedule and called a snap election on 24 April.
Earlier, the election commission met with the government officials and reviewed the pandemic situation affecting the election machinery.

On Monday, the government dropped its decision to relax the nationwide curfew and extended it to 27 April following a sudden spike of 41 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The country has been under a 24-hour curfew since March 20 and has so far reported 295 COVID-19 cases, including seven deaths, and 96 recoveries.

UN passes coronavirus resolution for a more coordinated response

The United Nations General Assembly has approved a resolution calling for global action for the manufacturing, development and access to medical vaccines and equipment in order to confront the coronavirus pandemic.

The resolution requests Secretary General Antonio Guterres to work with the World Health Organization and recommend options to ensure timely and equitable access to testing, medical supplies, drugs and future coronavirus vaccines for all in need especially in developing countries.
It reaffirms the fundamental role of the United Nations system in coordinating the global response to control and contain the spread of COVID-19.

Japanese PM asks people to follow social distancing more diligently

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed concerns Tuesday that Japanese people haven’t been following social distancing measures as much as they are supposed to under a state of emergency which he declared two weeks ago to fight the spread of the coronavirus. In order to prevent Japanese health care systems from collapsing, he asked the citizens to do more. A stay at home request was made by the PM on 7 April to limit the social interactions which according to surveys conducted is still happening.

The government expanded a state of emergency that was initially limited to Tokyo and six urban areas to all of Japan last week as the number of cases in Japan has topped 11000 and Tokyo is still reporting more than 100 daily

South Asian nations seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases

Despite taking serious preventive measures, the number of cases in Southeast Asian nations are climbing. Their limited capacity to do widespread testing also indicates that the official coronavirus numbers are less than the real ones.*Singapore- 8014 cases, 11 deaths, 801 recoveries

*Indonesia- 6760 cases, 590 deaths, 747 recoveries

*Malaysia- 5425 cases, 89 deaths, 3295 recoveries

*Thailand- 2792 cases, 47 deaths, 1999 recoveries

*Vietnam-268 cases, no deaths, 214 recoveries

NYC to form anti-Asian harassment response team

The New York Commission on Human Rights anounced the formation of a COVID-19 response team any reports of harrasament and discrimination against Asian Americans related to the coronavirus pandemic. The agency has come across more than 200 reports of harassment since February. 1O5 cases out of these were of anti-Asian nature.
The coronavirus epicentre in the US has more than 14,000 fatalities and over 200,000 infections.

We need to ready ourselves for a new way of living :WHO

The World Health Organization has advised that governments and societies must remain vigilant to stop transmission of the coronavirus saying the lifting of lockdowns and other measures needs to be done gradually.

“This is not the time to be lax” said Dr. Takeshi Kasai, WHO regional director of Western Pacific. “We need to ready ourselves for a new way of living for the foreseeable future” he added. Takeshi also said that rushing to ease or lift restrictions would likely lead to a resurgence of diseases and that individuals and societies.

China reports 11 new coronavirus cases, no fatalities so far

China reported another 11 coronavirus cases Tuesday including six in the province of Heilongjiang that borders Russia. No new deaths were reported with the total remaining at 4,632 among 82,758 cases. Nearly another 1000 people were under quarantine and monitoring as suspected cases or people who had tested positive for the virus but were showing no symptoms. Despite the dramatic drop in cases China has maintained strict social distancing rules including a ban on foreign travelers.

Coronavirus to impoverish millions of children in the Middle East

According to UNICEF, millions of Middle Eastern children will become poorer as their caregivers lose jobs from lockdowns that are imposed to urb the spread of coronavirus.

About 110 million children are now at home and not in schools in the region, UNICEF said. Humanitarian agencies and NGOs say curfews and lockdowns are already making it difficult or impossible for many to provide for their families.It further estimates t 25 million children in need, including refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Sudan Palestinian territories, Iraq and Libya.

? The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App.

Source: Read Full Article