Medical workers attend to a COVID-19 patient at the Sao Jose municipal hospital, in Duque de Caxias, Brazil, May 16, 2020. (YESICA FISCH / AP)
BRASILIA / ROME / PARIS / MOSCOW / BERLIN / LONDON / BUDAPEST / ATHENS / MEXICO CITY / RABAT / HARARE - Brazil’s confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose on Saturday past those of Spain and Italy, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic, making Brazil’s outbreak the fourth largest in the world, according to official figures.
A total of 34,466 people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in the United Kingdom, a rise of 468 in a 24-hour period, the health ministry said
Brazil’s Health Ministry registered 14,919 new confirmed cases in the prior 24 hours, taking the total to 233,142, behind the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. Brazil has done just a fraction of the testing seen in those three countries.
Brazil’s Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 816 new deaths related to the virus, bringing the total to 15,633.
The global distinction is likely to pile pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his second health minister in a month on Friday as he defies public health experts and calls for widespread use of unproven drugs.
Bolsonaro has been fiercely critical of the orders by many of Brazil’s state governors for strict social isolation and quarantine to combat the spread of the virus, including the closure of schools, shops and restaurants.
Bolsonaro argues that the toll on the economy is becoming unbearable and businesses must be allowed to reopen as soon as possible. The government now expects Brazil will post its biggest annual economic contraction this year since records began over a century ago.
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Bolsonaro has undergone several coronavirus tests after ministers and other close aides tested positive.
Nationwide testing in Brazil still lags far behind European nations. Brazil had processed nearly 338,000 novel coronavirus tests in official labs by the beginning of the week, according to the Health Ministry. Another 145,000 tests were under analysis or waiting in line.
Italy
Within the past 24 hours, 153 new COVID-19 deaths had been registered in Italy, bringing the country's death toll from the coronavirus-caused disease to 31,763 out of the total infection cases of 224,760, according to fresh figures on Saturday.
The number of recoveries rose to 122,810, an increase of 2,605 compared to Friday. Nationwide, the number of active infections fell by 1,883 to 70,187, according to the Civil Protection Department.
Of those who tested positive for the coronavirus, 775 are being treated in intensive care, a decrease of 33 compared to Friday, and 10,400 people are hospitalized with symptoms, a decrease of 392 over the past 24 hours.
The remaining 59,012 people, or 84 percent of those who have tested positive, are in isolation at home without or with only mild symptoms.
France
French health authorities reported 96 new coronavirus deaths on Saturday, as the country eases from a two month lockdown.
In a statement, the health ministry said the figure had fallen slightly from 104 fatalities on Friday. This brings France’s total to 27,625, the fourth-highest tally in the world, after the United States, Britain, and Italy, and just ahead of Spain.
The ministry said the number of people in hospital fell to 19,432 from 19,861 on Friday and the number of people in intensive care dropped to 2,132 from 2,203 on Friday.
Both numbers - key indicators for the French health system’s ability to cope with the epidemic - have been on a downtrend for four to five weeks and peaked at over 32,000 and over 7,000 respectively in early to mid-April.
Russia
Russia reported 9,709 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, a rise from 9,200 new cases reported the previous day.
Russia’s coronavirus taskforce said the overall number of cases nationwide stood at 281,752. It added that 94 people had died over the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll from the virus to 2,631.
Germany
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 583 to 174,355, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 33 to 7,914, the tally showed.
People are seen on Hove Lawns in Brighton after the introduction of measures to bring the country out of lockdown due to coronavirus, in England, May 16, 2020. (YUI MOK / PA VIA AP)
UK
A total of 34,466 people who tested positive for the new coronavirus have died in the United Kingdom, a rise of 468 in a 24-hour period, the health ministry said on Saturday.
The figures are as of 5 pm (1600 GMT) on May 15. Including deaths due to suspected cases, Britain’s toll is over 40,000.
Hungary
Hungary will start lifting coronavirus restrictions in Budapest from Monday, though residents returning to shops or travelling on public transport will have to wear face masks, officials said on Saturday.
Two weeks after easing the lockdown in other parts of the country, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said authorities had succeeded in controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the capital too.
“It has become clear that we’ve managed to curb the epidemic in Budapest as well,” he said in a video on his official Facebook page. “Therefore, we can shift to the second phase of defence in Budapest as well, cautiously ... and thus we lift the lockdown.”
From May 4, the government lifted some restrictions outside Budapest and its outskirts, allowing shops and restaurant terraces to reopen.
As of Saturday, Hungary had reported 448 deaths among a total of 3,473 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Some 1,655 of the infections were in Budapest.
Greece
Greece continues to ease its anti-coronavirus restrictions as the country's total infections climbed to 2,819 on Saturday with nine new cases reported over the last 24 hours.
The Health Ministry said on Saturday that two deaths from COVID-19 had been reported over the 24-hour period, bringing the country's death toll from the disease to 162 since the start of the outbreak in the country on Feb 26. So far, a total of 126,283 diagnostic tests have been carried out across the country.
With cautious steps, shopping malls, diet centers, zoos and botanical gardens will reopen on May 18, the Ministry of Development and Investments announced in an e-mailed press statement.
US
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday reported a total of 1,435,098 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 22,977 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,325 to 87,315.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on May 15, compared with its count a day earlier.
The CDC figures do not necessarily reflect cases reported by individual states.
A police officer speaks to people wearing masks in Central Park on May 16, 2020 in New York City, amid the coronavirus pandemic. (JOHANNES EISELE / AFP)
Mexico
Mexico registered 47,144 cases of coronavirus on Saturday, with the country’s death toll rising to 5,045, health authorities said.
Mexico has seen a slightly higher death rate from coronavirus than the global average so far due to the widespread presence of pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, experts say.
Morocco
Moroccan Ministry of Health on Saturday reported 89 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 6,741.
The number of recovered cases increased to 3,487 with 87 new recoveries, Director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health Mohamed El Youbi said at his daily briefing.
He also reported two new fatalities, raising the country's COVID-19 death toll to 192.
The official underlined the stability of the coronavirus mortality rate in Morocco, which stands at 2.8 percent, adding that the recovery rate rose to 51.7 percent.
The regions with the largest number of cases are Casablanca with 1,955, and Marrakech with 1,280.
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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe will keep its coronavirus lockdown for the time being, though businesses will be allowed to open for longer and the restrictions will be reviewed every two weeks, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Saturday.
The southern African nation, which has reported 42 cases and four deaths from the novel coronavirus, went into lockdown on March 30 and has been gradually easing the measures to help revive its troubled economy.
Economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak will exacerbate climate-induced shocks and monetary woes afflicting an economy battling shortages of foreign exchange, food electricity and medicines.
“Zimbabwe will... continue on the level two lockdown for an indefinite period. The country needs to ease out of the lockdown in a strategic and gradual manner,” Mnangagwa said in a live broadcast.
